Within Stone Walls
by Piercing Thorn
Summary: Words hold great power, sometimes more than we realize. With a summer storm to provide the perfect cover and the words of a supposedly long forgotten book, one girl must run the greatest gauntlet in order to make things right again. Too bad this gauntlet is a kingdom of goblins led by a sadistic, mischievous Fae king. MxN, JXM, JxS High T warning with possible spoilers...
1. Chapter 1: main story

**IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE! PLEASE READ!**

7/28/13: I was a little anxious about posting this solely under Labyrinth because this story mostly stars the characters of the crossover with this. However, the minor characters make an appearance in here and even Sarah and Jareth get some time devoted to them. Really, the second chapter has more Labyrinth in it but it's kind of hard to understand without reading this story first. Please give it a chance and let me know if you want a third chapter focused on Sarah and Jareth alone.

For those of you who actually came to visit this story, I thank you deeply from the bottom of my heart. Unfortunately if you're here it also means you've seen the author's note I've posted to my most popular stories and so you know the news. This story is not only a parting gift until i am once again able to write and update; it is the culmination of an idea. It is the longest thing I have written to date and the current crown jewel of all my stories. This particular one is also a very edited version since only the minor characters of Labyrinth play a very heavy role in this story but that's only in the middle of it because I felt I didn't want them to do a verbatem Journey of Sarah's adventure through the Labyrinth and also because I wanted to add at least a refrence to David Bowie since he has an AWESOME voice and he played his character so well (there is a part 3/4 of the way down in all italics; you'll get a better feel for it if you youtube his 'As the World Falls Down' while reading it). So I had to edit it a little but it barely detracts from the story if at all which I've been told by those who review the crossover post of this.

For my Ghost Hunt fans who've not heard of Labyrinth: Labyrinth is a great movie about growing up and learning valuable lessons. It is the last film Jim Henson ever directed before his death in 1990 (RIP Jim) and is just overly funny and perfect for teenagers and preteens. I believe that Jim's death was in part caused by the negative response to this movie when it was released and therefore also believe that it was made at the wrong time. For details about the plot please go to wikia . com and search labyrinth for information. Or if you want you can also look up the Nostalgia Chick's review of the movie on YouTube. (as I personally have not seen this movie since I was very small it helped me greatly when writing this story)

For Labyrinth fans who've not heard of Ghost Hunt: again, I urge you to go to and look it up for details. I personally consider this to be one of the best animes ever made and crossing it with one of the best Jim Henson movies of all time is my personal tribute to a man who changed the world with his ideas and charisma

On an additional note, I have done my best to keep all characters used as in character as possible while having them interact, please let me know if I failed in any way since this story was really difficult to write the way I wanted while doing what I always strive for; not straying too far off from a character's unique personality.

edit: 7/28/13: hopefully this is the last time I'm reposting this, but I realized looking it over that one part near the end didn't make sense and so I added a little dialogue to fix it. Also I felt the journey needed a little something more so I added in a song also in italics before the whole scene 3/4 the way down. It is sung by katethegreat19, I also urge you to look her up while reading that part.

Disclaimer: no matter how much I wish for it to be so, I do not own Ghost Hunt or Labyrinth, though I do take credit for being the first to use these in a crossover with each other. I also really wouldn't mind being owned by the Goblin King; it seems like fun!

* * *

In an unconceivable miracle, there was silence. And this was a miracle for its place of occurrence was none other than the SPR building, on a spring day hotter than usual, with all of its employees nestled within its walls. The rabble usually the cause of shattered silence was sitting silently; apprehensively watching the darkly ominous storm clouds cover the city from the vista of the great window, every nerve in their body standing on end for some inexplicable reason. There were only three out of the entire group who were not like that; and two of them were in their offices, diligently ignoring the outside world in favor for getting ahead in paperwork. The last one, sixteen year old Mai Taniyama sat at her desk: completely and utterly absorbed in the pages of a small, red leather-bound book; the title of which was written in curvy flowing script and gilded over in gold, making it nearly illegible up close and completely illegible from a distance. Mai paid no attention to the world around her; only to whatever fabricated world had been inked on the parchment, with a small smile reminiscent to one someone who knew a special secret might have on their face as her eyes followed the row of script.

Previously, when asked about the aforementioned book Mai had given her characteristic cheerful -and somewhat impish- grin and merely said,

"This is my favorite book. I've had it ever since I was a little girl."

And indeed, though it was obviously well taken care of; the ivory pages had yellowed with age and the spine had numerous cracks running its length as though the contents of the book had -and probably _were_ by all guesses- looked upon often. One of them, no one really cared who; asked what the story was about. Mai had surmised the plot for them as this; the tale was about a fourteen year old girl who selfishly wishes her half-brother away to the goblins one dark and stormy summer night, much as it was that afternoon in the real world, by saying her _right words_. However, the creatures she had thought of as nothing more than fantasy were _real_, and they had really granted her wish. And to top it all off; the girl is paid a visit by none other than the king of the goblins himself.

He tries to dissuade the girl by offering her a crystal which will grant her her dreams. Fear of punishment by the parents was the only thing to keep her from accepting it. And so the Goblin King offers her a chance to reclaim the baby. If she can reach the castle in the center of a huge maze within thirteen hours, then she and the babe would return home safely. However, should she fail; the babe would become a one of them forevermore.

And that was where Mai had ended her synopsis to them about it. They bade her go on; to tell them how the story ended, but she shook her head and told them she couldn't. Monk was the only one to ask why.

"_Because," she had replied. "the story's not finished yet."_

"_You mean there's a sequel then?" Ayako had asked._

_Mai shook her head. "No, no sequel."_

"_So there __**is**__ an ending to the story." John concluded._

"_Yes." Mai acquiesced._

"_So why can't you tell us the ending?" Monk wanted to know._

"_I already told you; the story's not finished yet." Mai replied._

"_But you just said there was an ending!" The monk pointed an accusing finger in her direction._

"_True." Mai agreed._

"_So how can the story be unfinished if there's an ending to it?"_

_Mai blinked, and blinked again. She closed her eyes, let out a sigh, and let that secret smile languidly stretch across her face. When her eyes opened once more, there was that knowing gleam in their depth; as though she were privy to some sort of charming and well-kept secret they were all completely unaware of._

"_Words and characters and stories are not static things." she explained. "They live and breathe and grow as time passes, much as real people do. And so just because a story might have an 'ending' or the words 'the end' tacked to the last written line does in no way mean that their story is completely finished." She answered cryptically, burying her nose in the pages once more._

And that was how they found themselves in their current situation; the members of SPR out in the common room all sitting in stunned silence with only the sound of Mai's pages turning echoing throughout the space. Masako glared at the brunette with disdain, why was she getting all the attention today? That wasn't fair at all.

Putting the sleeve of her surprisingly normal clothes to her mouth -a dark navy short-sleeved top with longer, looser white sleeves coming out from underneath paired with a pair of light-blue skinny jeans and a pair of white converses- Masako tossed her head and said,

"The way you're turning those pages it's like you were trying to commit the entire book to memory; word for word. Is something happening that's forcing you to get rid of it?"

Mai set her book down on its spine and looked up at the medium with some sort of rapt amusement. "No, I already know the story by heart. I just like looking over the pages, and I like the scent of old books."

Masako, as well as the rest of the silent group, looked at Mai in disbelief.

"You don't believe me?" she asked. "Fine, I guess I'll just have to prove it to you." She stood up from her chair and walked in front of the table; facing her coworkers directly. They vaguely registered the pitter patter outside; apparently it had started raining. What a coincidence; as the weather had changed outside Mai had changed character completely inside. Her eyes flashed with some dark, unnamable emotion. Her face was completely devoid of any thoughts and feelings, so unlike how she usually was, as she took a deep breath. And when she spoke, the resounding voice sounded breathy and completely unnatural coming from her.

"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the goblin city, to take back the child you have stolen." Mai was still a blank slate, an emotionless mask to say the least, as she slowly stalked towards them. "For my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom as great…" there was a sense of climax in the air, as though the next line would deliver the final blow to the imaginary villain Mai was facing off against. They could almost sense his impending doom, and were eager to see it end when a cold voice rang out.

"Mai, I need tea!" Naru called.

And like that, the moment was gone, the trance was broken, and Mai the strong willed heroine of the story became Mai Taniyama; average girl and ghost hunting assistant extraordinaire. She shook her head, as if ridding her brain of any trace amounts of the heroine's personality; remembering that this was real life and not some fairy-tale story.

"Coming Naru!" she called back, walking to the small kitchenette to reheat the tea she'd made only a half-hour prior and then carrying it into her boss's lair; the door closing behind her.

Masako watched the exchange from behind green-tinted glasses. She stood up and strode over to the assistant's desk, fingers trailing over the spine of the well-worn book. The medium picked it up and flipped through the pages in the beginning until she came upon the "right words" Mai had told them about. She almost laughed aloud; they were simple, but apparently effective. So simple they were easily missed, which was why it had taken her a few minutes to find them. A few minutes in which Mai had not returned from the handsome teenager's office, Masako realized bitterly; that just wasn't fair.

She had just looked towards the gateway leading to said room when it swung open. Mai stood in the doorframe; eyes flashing with irritation, fists clenched by her sides and shaking, and her cheeks flushed as pink as they could get before turning red. Apparently she and Naru had started discussing something -more than likely his manners about when somebody does something for him and the importance of saying thank you and whatnot- and another one of their famous arguments, or sparring matches as the rest of them liked to refer to those as, had broken out. As per usual they had started out quite evenly, Mai had gotten the upper hand for a duration, the word war continued with neither raising their voices; though their irritation was clearly reflected in their word choice, and, if Mai's mood at the current moment was _any_ indication at all; Naru had just won, again.

Eyes cast towards the ground Mai muttered profanities under her breath whilst she slammed the door shut and made to return to her desk to settle down in the pages of her childhood favorite. She stopped short after only a few steps upon seeing Masako's current position.

Mai may as well have been born a redhead in another life; she certainly had the famous, if not stereotypical, redheaded temper.

"What are you doing!?" she cried running over and grabbing hold of the book. "Masako let go!" she urged tugging at her end of the book and snatching it out of the teenage medium's hands.

Masako took a little step back, more than a little disgruntled about just how overprotective Mai was of that little book and still a tad jealous of her spending even a few minutes alone with the guy everyone knew they both liked. She glared at the brunette as she returned to her seat. Mai ignored her and hurriedly inspected it; checking to see if any harm had come to the book and worried that Masako had damaged it somehow. Content with her overview however she quickly turned her back to the group, intent on safely depositing the book in her bag where nothing else could touch it when she heard Masako mutter,

"I wish the goblins would take _you_ away, right now."

From her halfway bent over position Mai lurched up, her back going ramrod straight where she stood; the book still clasped in her hands. Her face went white as a sheet, her eyes impossibly wide -even though no one could see- with fear, and her whole body started shaking all over.

"You fool." Mai ground out in a hushed whisper. "Do you have _any _idea what you've just done?"

Outside, the storm had fully and completely descended on the city. Lightning flashed, thunder crashed, and without any warning the office was plunged into darkness in a sudden power failure. The high voltage electricity outside flashed violently, illuminating the interior of the space. Lin and Naru came running out to make sure everyone else was okay. The lightening flashed again, this time showing the shadows of strange and slightly grotesque creatures dancing along the walls around them. Mai still had not moved. And then, there came an ear-piercing scream from over in her direction that was silenced as abruptly as it had begun. The lightning flashed, Mai was gone.

And then, there came a tapping at the great window. A bird, some sort of owl, was clawing at the glass, seeking shelter from the storm. The natural entity in question, however, was relentless and refused to be merciful to those unlucky enough to be caught outside while it rampaged through this part of civilization. A particularly large bout of thunder roared, effectively rattling the glass of the great window and shattering it into a million pieces of stardust. The owl flew in and around the room as the shadows continued to dance while deviously malicious cackling filled the air over the sound of the storm. And if any of the members of SPR had bothered to look, they would have seen both hands of the wall clock near the ceiling striking the topmost number; a thirteen which had not been there a few moments before.

Completing its circuit of one lap around the rather large room the owl flew out and was replaced by the shadow of something much larger and possibly more frightening; the shadows dancing around had all disappeared. All the sitting members of SPR stood up at the sight of what stood before them.

It was a man, but one completely unlike any any of them had ever seen before. He stood tall, regal, imposing with an authoritative and almost haughty air. A mop of platinum blond hair sat atop his head in the oddest hairstyle any of them had ever seen. It reminded the three adults in the room of some sort of crossover between grunge and the seventies. Wild and untamed, it was cut in sporadic, uncaring, layers; the strands greatly varying in length with the shortest ones sticking up defiantly against the pull of gravity, the medium ones falling somewhat softly yet not fully falling, and the longest ones trailing down past his shoulders. He had a cold, sharp-featured, angular face with definitive frown lines; obviously he wasn't one who was subjected to happiness very often. There were odd markings around his slanted eyes, making them look all the more exotic; and the oddest set of eyes to have ever come to light. The right iris was a glacial blue; it could probably freeze hell over if its owner had the mind to do so. And the left one being the same shade as the richest, most decadent piece of dark chocolate ever created; but both were a definite accent to whatever look he was trying to pull off. His cheekbones high, his lips thin, jaw strong, and his skin was a pale shade of peach, glimmering still somehow. And his imposing air seemed all the more enhanced by his choice of wardrobe; full-body, armored regalia as black as the depth of space itself with a curved collar cape of similar darkness settled over his broad shoulders.

He regarded the group before him passively; his head cocked lazily to the side, eyes filled with some odd mixture of bored amusement, and the barest hint of a smirk tugging at the corners and playing about his mouth. His left hand stood situated at his waist while the right was extended in proportion to himself in some sort of 'behold' gesture. A slight breeze was blowing, slightly agitating stray hairs, but he made no move to speak.

"Who are you?" Naru asked. The man didn't respond.

Thinking about it and what had just happened drew a parallel to something. Masako thought about it for a moment before it hit her. "You're him, aren't you?" she asked. "The Goblin King?"

The monarch gave a small cross between a smile and a smirk, obviously pleased at being recognized. "Very perceptive I see." He replied with a smooth, almost husky voice with a western accent they couldn't quite place, though the slightly mocking tone did not go unnoticed. "And here I thought the whole world, especially mortals _your_ age would have forgotten about me and my kingdom by now."

"Actually, we didn't even know you existed until our friend told us about a story you were one of the main characters of." Monk offered as an explanation.

"Ah yes, the little wished away one." The Goblin King replied, as if in recognition. He looked back at the group now staring at him. "I suggest you all go back to what you were doing before. The baby is no longer a concern of yours."

"What happened to Mai? Where is she?" Ayako demanded. "Where did you take her?"

The Goblin King put his hands up in mock surrender. "I had nothing to do with her, disappearance. My goblins would be to blame for that one. It seems I can't leave them alone for even a moment…" he trailed off into thought. "At any rate that meant I had to come and see what damage they had done, but I see nothing broken or decimated. Luckily for you they only took the girl."

"But Mai wasn't wished away." Ayako protested.

"This may come as a surprise to you but in all actuality; yes she was." the King objected. "It is the only way a mortal can gain access to the Goblin Kingdom. In short, if she weren't wished away she wouldn't be with my bumbling subjects now."

"Is that why you're here?" John asked. "To tell us this?"

The Goblin King nodded his assent. "Partly, that and; I had another obligation." He looked at Masako. "I've brought you; a gift."

With a flick of the wrist and a swirl of smoke there lay a clear glass orb in the palm of his leather-clad hand.

Masako's eyes flickered from the gift to the king warily. "What is it?" she asked, proud her voice stayed steady.

"It's a crystal," he replied starting to juggle and toss it from one hand to the other and letting it roll over his forearms and back. "nothing more. But if you turn it this way and look into it, it'll show you your dreams." He stopped and held it in the hand he conjured it. "But this is _not_," here he shook his head slightly for emphasis. "a gift for an ordinary girl who constantly bickers with a screaming baby." The king held the crystal out to her. "Do you want it?"

"Why are you offering it to her?" Ayako demanded.

"It is customary to offer something in exchange for receiving something isn't it?" the Goblin King asked. "She's the one who wished the babe away; therefore, she's the one who has the offer of her dreams in exchange."

"She did _what_!?" the monk and the miko exclaimed. They, along with Lin surprisingly enough, looked about ready to kill the young medium. However, the mythical being in the room generously decided to intervene on her behalf.

"Silence." He ordered, and with a wave of his free hand; the three oldest adults collapsed where they stood, deep in an enchanted sleep. The Goblin King turned back to Masako. "Do you want it?" he repeated. "Then forget about the baby."

Masako stood still, violet gaze mesmerized by the value of the gift that was being offered to her. All her dreams -including dating the handsome Naru- whenever she wanted; in exchange for Mai. It hardly seemed a fair exchange for the Goblin King in Masako's opinion but who was she to look a gift horse in the mouth?

"Wait a minute; in the story, the wished away child was related to the girl. Mai and Ms. Hara aren't related at all." John pointed out.

"True." the Goblin King agreed. "However, what's said is said. And now since she is in my castle I am duty-bound to honor the wish." He replied.

"I thought you could only take children." Naru added.

"You were paying attention?" John asked him.

"It's kind of hard not to overhear things when it seems that your speaking voices are synoptic with yelling voices to some people." Was Naru's stoic reply.

"Back to the point." The Goblin King interrupted. "Is the wished away in question considered an adult by your world's laws?" he asked. They didn't respond, and he took it as a 'no'. "I thought so. There is that factor coinciding with her childish heart. She truly believes in my people; and so she is able to interact directly with them. Those factors allowed her to be taken, and _my_ world has a much different set of rules than your world."

He turned back to the teen girl. "Masako," he aid, calling her by her first name. "take the gift, go home and do not worry about the baby anymore."

John and Naru kept quiet now. Masako, on the other hand, was still somewhat greedily eyeing the crystal. Her lips parted to say the fateful yes when she felt intense gazes piercing the back of her head.

She turned to see the only other people she knew still conscious staring at her. John with a worried and pleading expression across his face; and Naru with his stoic mask, though she could see the disapproval in his eyes. She felt a little guilty.

"Why aren't you telling me what I should say?" she asked them, slightly confused as to why they were remaining silent.

"It's not our decision." Naru replied curtly.

John nodded in agreement. "Kazuya's right Ms. Hara. We could tell you what decision to make, but one of the greatest gifts God gave us was free will. If you truly care about Mai you'll wish her back, if you don't you'll take the offer. But the decision has to be completely yours in the end. Not mine, not Kazuya's; yours."

Masako cast her eyes to the ground in thought, and it was _then_ her mind conveniently decided to remind her of one other thing Mai had told them about the story; if the offer was taken or the challenge failed, the wished away child would become a goblin for all eternity. She was without doubt that if the situation were reversed Mai would not hesitate giving up her dreams to save her rival. It now also occurred to Masako that Mai had panicked just after the wish had been made, had asked Masako if she'd any idea of what had just been done; two things Masako knew someone would not do if they'd not already known that the words on the paper were just that: words. That the story was indeed terribly real and not just a work of fiction to entertain young children. Mai had known the power that lay in those words. Had had the means to dispose of her rival anytime she wished; knowing full well that they would work without fail, but she had never used them, never said them aloud. Masako's decision had been made.

She sighed resignedly. "I'd love to take the offer of my dreams, really I would." She said slowly, vaguely aware of the shock of the two men behind her. The Goblin King smirked haughtily and victoriously, and held out the crystal for her to take, but Masako held up her hand. "But as much as my dreams mean to me, my friends mean more. I can't take them at the expense of another. I want Mai back if it's all the same please."

A look of slight dismay flashed across the Goblin King's features from behind his mask of haughty indifference as he drew his hand back slightly.

"I see." He said tightly. "Such a pity…" he shook his head as, in front of their very eyes, the crystal transformed into a red and black snake. He passed one end of the snake to his free hand concentrating on it, and glanced up at the teenager before throwing the reptile around her neck with no warning whatsoever.

Masako flinched and grabbed at the creature only to find is had become a rope of magician's scarves. She looked at the man, well male being, in front of her in disbelief; he completely disregarded all three of them as he walked past them to the entrance/exit of the office building. The trio looked at where he had just been to see the great window completely repaired; the storming outside now muted to nothing louder than a dull echo to their ears.

"Very well," the monarch brought their attention back to him. "if you wish to have the baby back you must be willing to prove you will do whatever it takes. You must retrieve her yourselves." He told them.

"But how could we possibly do that?" Masako asked. "We don't even know where she is!"

The Goblin King motioned for them to come forward; to the door he was now standing beside. It swung open and he pointed through it.

"She's there, in my castle."

The trio ushered through the threshold. Where they were now, they belatedly realized, was not the balcony and stairwell of the office complex; instead it was a field of long, long-dead yellow grass atop a windswept hill with a blackened, gnarled, leafless tree overlooking a vast, sprawling landscape.

There, in the hollow below, lay a gigantic maze which stretched out into the horizon as far as the eye could see. Nestled in what they guessed was the very center was a mass of slightly crumbling towers and turrets; the castle within the Goblin City, they presumed.

"Where are we? Why are we here?" John asked.

The Goblin King appeared directly behind them. "You are here in my realm; a world full of magic both good, and not so good. It is the realm of the Goblins, otherwise known as the Underground, and you are here to try and reclaim the babe. To do that, you must reach the castle beyond the Goblin City." He pointed to the mass of towers. "Masako, turn back now; forget the babe and leave while you can."

Masako looked to the king and back to the maze. "It doesn't seem that far." She said, faking bravado.

"It is farther than you think; and time is short." They looked to see an ornate cuckoo clock which seemed to have grown out of the branch of the dead tree the monarch was standing next to. It had thirteen numbers instead of the accepted twelve on its face. He continued, striding towards them a little. "You have thirteen hours in which to complete the Labyrinth. Or else…"

"Or else what?" John asked hesitantly.

The Goblin King's lips twitched a little, they could tell he was suppressing a smirk. "An extended stay in my kingdom."

"How long?" Naru raised a brow.

This time, the Lord of the Underground really did smirk. "Oh, not very long." He soothed.

"How. Long?" Naru repeated, grinding the words though his teeth.

The Goblin King's smirk didn't cease. "It's only forever, not long at all." He replied. "Turn back now, while it's not too late." He advised.

"No, we need to get Mai back." Masako rebutted.

The Goblin King shook his head sadly, almost pityingly. "Such a pity." He said fading from view. "Such a pity." The wind echoed his voice.

The trio blinked, he really was gone; and that meant their challenge had begun. Carefully picking their way down the hill they came upon the outside wall of the Labyrinth, but there was no door that they could see and they really couldn't waste their time looking for it.

Movement out the corner of their left eyes caught their attention. Closer inspection revealed a squat little man er, for lack of a better word, relieving himself in a small pond whose water had long since stagnated. He seemed not to notice them and the men stood stock-still; awkwardly clearing their throats and looking anywhere but at him directly.

Masako rolled her eyes; they weren't seeing anything indecent; the man's stance and their position protected whatever modesty he might have had. She decided to take this into her own hands.

"Um, excuse me?" she called.

The little man startled a little and quickly made himself presentable.

"Oh! Excuse me!" he said turning around to reveal an ancient looking and gnarled face. His expression soured when he saw who he was talking to. "Oh," he said with a hint of disgust. "it's you three." Turning away he pulled some sort of spraying contraption from under his shirt and started limping away from them.

"What are you doing?" John asked.

"My job." The man grumbled. "Gotta kill off these pests. Only problem is they breed as fast as I can spray." He explained spraying some sort of concoction on a swarm of sparkly creatures.

"Those are fairies." Masako said picking up a fallen one and cradling it in her hands. "You shouldn't be hurting this poor little- Ow!" she cried as the fairy giggled and flew off. "It bit me!" she cried in disbelief.

"'Course they do." The dwarf replied limping away. "What'd you expects fairies to do?"

"I thought they did nice things like grant wishes." Masako offered as an explanation.

"That's what they do in every story I've heard about them." John added.

The dwarf grunted in response, still limping ahead of them.

"I don't suppose you would know the way in would you?" Naru causally asked.

The dwarf turned around and gave them a cold look. "Course I do!" he snorted indignantly before turning around and continuing along the wall.

"Could you tell us?" John asked.

"Tell ya what?" the dwarf asked.

"How to get in." Masako pointed at the wall they were standing next to.

"Oh that, I coulds." The dwarf replied. They waited a moment, but he didn't say a word.

"Well?" Masako asked impatiently.

"Well what?" the dwarf asked in reply.

"Aren't you going to tell us how to get in?" Masako finished.

"Nope." The dwarf answered.

The medium huffed. "You're horrible!" She insulted.

The dwarf turned and gave them another sour look. "No I ain't, I'm Hoggle." He said introducing himself; pointing a weathered thumb at his chest.

"You said you'd tell us the way in." John told him.

"Didn't says nothin' o' the sorts." Hoggle replied. "Said I _could_ tells ya. Never saids I _would_."

"And why not?" Masako was now on the verge of throwing a tantrum.

"Cause you ain't askin' the rights questions!" Hoggle accused pointing a twiggy finger at them. "Now do us all a favors and leaves me be!" He huffed and turned around, intent on finishing his task.

The trio stood there for a moment watching him limp away, wondering what he meant. It was Naru who figured it out first.

"I see. Will you tell us how to get into the Labyrinth then?"

"Well, why didn't ya say so befores?" Hoggle asked exasperatedly, throwing his little arms into the air. "The entrance's right behinds ya." He pointed and the three turned to face a large set of doors standing beside them, which hadn't been there a few seconds before.

"But… but…" Masako sputtered, desperately trying to make sense of the situation they somehow found themselves in.

"Well, ya got yer answers. Best get goin' then." Hoggle said, gesturing for them to leave.

"Right," John agreed. "thanks mate." He called over his shoulder to Hoggle as the three entered the gate.

"Damn fools." Hoggle muttered under his breath as he resumed his work. "Goin' up against that rat like that. Be lucky if they makes it past the first wall."

* * *

Inside, all the trio could see was a long path around the outer wall of the maze.

"How are we supposed to get through solid rock?" Masako asked.

"This challenge is supposed to be difficult, not impossible." Naru replied. "There has to be an opening somewhere; we'll just have to look until we find it. Split up, but don't wander too far away." He ordered.

So they walked and walked and walked, each a little ways distance from the other with Masako bringing up the rear. However, no matter how far they walked, even with three sets of eyes scanning the area; there was nothing to be seen. Dejected already, Masako stopped to lean against a wall and slid down to rest on her haunches.

"Allo!" called a voice. Masako looked around to find a blue worm with a peach colored underside, a bright orange scarf on its neck, and large brown eyes staring up at her.

"Did you say hello?" she asked hesitantly, aware of how crazy it would look if she were talking to a worm back home.

"No I said 'allo', but that's close enough." The worm replied.

"You're a worm, aren't you?" Masako persisted.

"Yea, s'right." It said.

"You don't by any chance know the way through this Labyrinth do you?" the young medium chanced.

"Who me? Nah, I'm just a worm." It replied.

"Oh,"

"Come inside and meet the missus." The worm offered.

"No thank you but," Masako sighed. "my friends and I have to solve this Labyrinth. But there aren't any turns or any openings or anything! It just goes on and on and-"

"Well you ain't lookin' right." The worm interrupted on the breath of a laugh. "It's full of op'nings it's just you ain't seein' 'em."

Masako looked towards the bug from where she had tossed her head back and forth in frustration during her little rant. "Where are they?" she asked.

"There's one just across there. It's right in front of ya." The little worm replied inclining his head to the opposite wall.

Masako looked at it for a moment. "No there isn't." she said.

"Come inside and have a nice cup of tea." The worm said once more.

"But," Masako looked back to the worm. "there isn't an opening." She said.

The worm laughed. "Of course there is, you try walkin' through it. You'll see what I mean." It said as Masako got up and walked across the narrow path.

She turned back to it. "What?" she asked.

"Go on." The worm urged. "Go on then."

Masako turned back to the wall before her. "That's, just, _wall_. There's no way through." She said looking back yet gesturing toward the bricks.

"Things are not always what they seen in this place." The worm offered for explanation, shrugging its little body as one might shrug their shoulders. "So you can't take anything for granted."

Masako herself shrugged a little and held both hands up to keep her from walking face first into a wall. Much to her surprise there _was_ an opening, just like the worm had said. It was just well concealed, and like it had said; Masako and the others weren't looking right as their perception of a labyrinth was that it would have clearly defined turns and openings. This particular Labyrinth, however, was in great disrepair and meant to be a challenge; how challenging would it be if everything was marked out for you?

"Hey!" she said in surprise. She walked back out to where the worm was. "John! Naru! Come here!" she called.

The two men came running back.

"What is it Ms. Hara?" John asked her.

"There's an opening right here." She said demonstrating. "That little worm showed me." She explained. "We can finish the Labyrinth and save Mai now. Come on!" she said. The two men followed her in and they started to make a left turn when the worm called out.

"Hey, hang on!" it cried.

The trio backtracked to see it.

"Thank you, that was incredibly helpful." Masako told it, starting to go left with the others again.

"But don't go that way!" the worm warned.

"What was that?" Naru asked.

"I said, 'don't go _that_ way'." The worm said tilting his head left in reply. The trio looked around and the worm added. "Never go _that_ way."

"Oh," Masako said, starting for the right. "thanks." She said as she and the boys walked out of sight.

The worm shook his head as he watched them go. "Gough. If they'd a kept goin' on that way. They'd a gone straight to that castle." The worm shook his head once more.

* * *

The opening led them into a more maze like part of the Labyrinth. It seemed to go from one extreme to the other in this place because now there were so many openings, turns, and signs pointing out directions they didn't know which one to pick.

"How are we supposed to solve this part?" John asked. "There are too many openings and we don't have enough time to see where each one leads."

We need a way to mark which ways we've already gone if we end up returning here." Naru rationalized.

"But how? We don't have anything to mark with." John replied.

Masako looked around and seeing nothing began to smooth her hands on her jeans. She felt a bump in the right pocket. Reaching inside she pulled out a tube of lipstick, weird; she hadn't remembered putting any makeup on this morning or even taking it with her, much less putting it in her pocket.

"Will this do?" she asked them, holding out the piece of face paint.

They shot her a quizzical glance and she shrugged in response. Naru took the tube and uncapped it; harlot red, easily visible against the grungy stones.

"This will do, let's start." He said.

"Which way?" John asked.

"Hmm, let's try left; since we went right last time." Naru reasoned. They walked to the opening farthest left and right before the entered Naru knelt down and marked it with an arrow. The three runners continued on their way.

As their backs were turned, a little creature, most likely a Brownie popped out from underthe stone they had written on and took a look at it. It raised its little fist; shaking it and yelling garbled nonsense at them as it turned the stone a rotation and went back under the ground.

This happened as the three made their way; they'd make a mark, a little Brownie would pop up and change the arrow's direction. Eventually they came to a dead end. They backtracked to the last arrow they'd made and saw that it had been flipped to another direction; one that led right to a wall.

"What's this?" Naru asked; not really unaware of what happened but things in this place were just so confounding to a logical mind like his that the reaction was completely human and it just slipped out.

"Seems like someone's been changing our marks." John observed.

"What a horrible place this is!" Masako was really getting fed up with the Labyrinth. "It's not fair!"

Behind them another voice spoke. "That's right," it spoke with a distinctly Scottish accent. "it's not fair." Three other voices laughed and the trio turned to see two guards, red and blue respectively, standing at two passages. Only, they had _four_ heads? "But that's only half of it!" the lower voice of the red guard spoke and the other three laughed again as the trio made their way to the guards.

"This was a dead end a minute ago." Masako said.

The lower head of the blue guard popped out under the shield. "No, that's the dead end behind ya!" he exclaimed. The other three heads laughed and they all ducked behind the shields again.

The group of runners looked behind them to see that the walls they had passed through were closed and it was indeed a dead end now.

"It keeps changing." John observed.

"What are we supposed to do?" Masako asked looking back at the guards.

The lower head of the Red Guard popped out. "Well the only way out is to try one of these doors." He told them.

The lower head of the blue guard added. "One of these doors leads to the castle at the center of the Labyrinth. And the other one leads to," here the top heads popped out. "Certain death!" the lower head finished while the top head made sound effects for emphasis.

"Ooohhh!" the other heads said.

"Which one is which?" Naru asked them.

"Eh, we can't tell you." The lower red replied.

"Why not?" John asked.

Here the heads looked slightly uncomfortable and started murmuring with each other; usual filler words like "ah, um, and uh" making their way past each head's lips.

"We don't know." The lower red finally admitted.

"But they do." The lower blue added as both lower heads looked up at the top ones.

"Oh, okay. We'll ask them then." Masako said.

"Um, no, you can't ask us." The top red replied, the top blue shaking his head in agreement. "You can only ask one of us." he continued.

"It's in the rules." The top blue added. "And I should warn you that one of us _always_ tells the truth. And one of us _always_ lies. That's a little clue; he always lies." The blue said nodding to the red.

"I do not, I tell the truth!" the red one argued.

"Oh, what a lie!" the blue exclaimed.

"He's the liar!" the red one accused.

The lower two heads found the banter extremely funny for some reason.

Naru watched as they laughed. "Alright," he said walking over to the red guard. "answer yes or no. Would he," he asked pointing to the blue guard. "tell us that this door leads to the castle?"

"Uh…" the guards looked at each other. The red one deliberated with his lower head for a moment before popping back up.

"Yes?" he said; his answer sounding more like a question than anything.

"Then, the other door leads to the castle and this door leads to certain death." Naru reasoned.

"How do you know? He could be tellin' the truth!" the red guard said.

"But then you wouldn't be, so if you told us the answer is yes, then the answer is no."

"Well, I could be tellin' the truth." The red guard tried again.

"Then you would be lying. So if you told me that he said yes, I know the answer would still be no."

"Wait a minute…" The red guard said. "Is that right?" he asked the blue guard.

"I don't know. I've never understood it." the blue guard replied.

They started chuckling.

"No, I know it's right. It's not that hard to figure out." Naru told them. "Come on." He said inclining his head at the way past the blue guard.

"I don't think he's ever been able to do that before." John whispered to Masako.

"I think we're getting smarter." She replied as they walked past the blue guard. "This place is a piece of cake!" she said they all fell into a hole in the ground they hadn't seen before.

They fell down a shaft with a bunch of weird scaly hands sticking out. They tried to grab onto some of them as they fell until they were caught.

"Stop it. Help!" Masako cried as the hands held her, Naru, and John still.

A few hands made a face. "What do you mean 'help'? We are helping." It said.

"We're helping hands." Another face made out of hands added.

"You're hurting." Masako whined.

A third face formed. "Would you like us to let go?" it asked in a raspy voice as it started cackling and the hands holding them let go.

"No!" she cried as she fell a few feet. The hands caught them once more.

"Well then, come on!" a fourth face urged. "Which way?"

"Which way?" Masako repeated in confusion.

"Up? Or down?" a fifth hand face clarified.

"Oh,"

"Come on, come on!"

"We haven't got all day." So many faces were forming out of the hands it was hard to keep track of them all.

"Well it's a big decision to make."

"Which way do you _want_ to go hmm?"

"Yes, which way?"

Masako looked down the shaft. "Well, since we're pointed that way I guess we'll go down."

"She chose down!" said another face in a singsong voice.

"She chose down? Heh, heh, heh, heh…" said one more as they hands started guiding them down.

"Was that wrong?" John's voice echoed as the hands carried out the medium's decision.

"Too late now." Called a last as they continued their descent.

Eventually the three fell into a dark space while the hands cackled and laughed above them. As soon as Masako fell in on top of both John and Naru, a hatch shut above them; blocking out most of the light.

"Uh!" they groaned.

"What happened?" John asked.

"We were dropped." Naru replied. "Where though, I'm not quite sure."

"What _is_ this place?" Masako asked.

A sudden brightness in the room caught their attention. Turning to the source they saw the little dwarf from the gate holding a lantern and searching around on the ground for something.

"It's the little man from before. Hoghead!" John said in relief.

"It's _Hoggle_." He replied, still not looking up from the floor.

"Do you know where we are?" Naru asked.

"Yer in an Oubliette." Hoggle answered. "Ah, where is it?"

"What's an oubliette?" John asked.

"'S a place the King puts ya when he wants ta fergets about ya. Heres it is!" the little dwarf said triumphantly, holding something up in his hand.

"What's that?" Masako asked him.

"The way out." Hoggle replied. He went over and stuck the object into the wall and turned it, letting go it was revealed to be a doorknob that turned the wall into a door. A mop and broom fell out. "Damn brooms closet!" Hoggle cursed, closing it and taking the door knob out and searching around on the wall again.

"What are you doing here?" Naru asked, a little suspicious of how the creature turned up at just the right moment.

"'M here ta gets ya outta here. Take yas backs t' the beginnin's."

"But, don't you know the way through the Labyrinth?" Masako asked.

"Yea," Hoggle responded, not bothering to stray his vision from his search.

"Could you take us to the center?" John asked hopefully.

"No!" the dwarf cried. "The king'd have me 'ead suspended over the bog 'f I did thats!"

"What if we paid you?" Masako offered.

"Paid me?" Hoggle repeated.

"Yes, paid you." Masako replied. "Just, take us as far as you can and then we'll do it on our own."

"Well... What've ya gots?" Hoggle demanded turning to face them.

"Well, I've got this." Masako reached under her jeans and took off a small woven anklet she wore, holding it out.

"And what've the other twos? I ain't runnin' no charitys here."

"I've got this." John offered a little wooden cross necklace; one of the many the children from the orphanage had given him.

"And you?"

"…" Naru thought for a moment, recalling he didn't really carry trinkets and baubles around with him. He reached in to turn over his pockets when he felt something small in the corner. He pulled out a cheap plastic ring; a faux amethyst gem surrounded by plastic scallops.

"What're they mades of?" the dwarf demanded, holding his hand out none the less.

"String."

"Wood."

"Plastic." They all answered. The dwarf's eyes lit up at the mention of the ring and happily took all three as payment.

"Now, I don't promise nothin's. But I'll take ya as far as I can." He informed them turning to where he'd placed the doorknob and turned it. The door opened out into a series of tunnels, and Hoggle took the lantern and led them out. The tunnels were well-lit and so they could see easily.

All around them, large faces cut out of the rock cried out. "Go back! Go back! This is not the way!"

"What the..?" the teenagers said.

"False alarms." Hoggle replied as explanation. Now they were near a particularly talkative false alarm.

"Beware!" it said. "For the-"

"Oh, forget it!" Hoggle snapped.

"Please?" the face pleaded. "I haven't said it for such a long time."

"Oh, alright. But don't expect a big reaction." Hoggle replied.

"No, no, no; of course not. Ahem," The face cleared its, um, 'throat'. "The path you take will lead to certain destruction!" it said in a slightly more ominous voice.

A crystal rolled in from out of nowhere and kept going past them. They ignored the face's thanks to follow it.

"Uh, oh." Masako said quietly.

"Oh, no." Hoggle agreed as they followed it out into a far more spacious tunnel. The crystal somehow defied gravity and landed into the cup of a beggar with a cloth over his eyes. He was blind.

"Ah, what've we here?" the beggar asked.

"Uh, nothin'!" Hoggle said quickly and nervously. It seemed there was something about this character which was unbeknownst to the runners.

"Nothing?" the beggar asked. "Nothing?" he repeated in a voice more familiar than not as he stood and threw off the guise. It was the Goblin King dressed in a white shirt, tight gray breeches, his black boots, and a brown leather jacket with a piece of armor on the shoulder. "Nothing? Nothing tra la la?" he asked shaking the disguise and throwing it off to the side.

"Your majesty." Hoggle said meekly, it was a little amusing yet at the same time frightening to see the cantankerous dwarf subdued like that. "What a nice surprise."

"Hello Hedgewart." The King replied, the accent making it sound slightly like the worm's hello.

"Hogwart." Masako corrected him.

"Hoggle." Naru corrected them both.

"Hoggle, can it be that you're helping these three?" the King asked, his expression telling them all he already knew the answer.

Hoggle cowered slightly. "Helping?" he repeated, the word being drawn out slightly as he let it out with his breath. "In what sense?" he asked.

"In the sense that you're leading them straight to the castle." The King replied, looking a little miffed that one of his subjects would disobey him.

"I was taken' 'em back to the beginin' your majesty." Hoggle said. The king's expression told all how convincing a liar the dwarf was.

"What?" Masako asked, being the only one to pay attention to the dwarf and not the monarch of the Underground.

"I told _them_ I was gonna help 'em solve the Labyrinth. A little trickery on my part. Heh, heh." The dwarf laughed nervously as the King held a hand to his ear and knelt down to the dwarf's level. "But actually-"

"What are _those_ trinkets you've got there?" the King interrupted; indicating the anklet on the dwarf's wrist, the cross pendant and the ring on which they had been strung.

"Uh," Hoggle put his hands behind his back and refused to make eye contact. "Oh these!" he said laughing nervously once more pulling them out. "My goodness, where _did_ these come from?"

"Higgle," the King sighed resignedly, obviously tired of pretending he didn't already know his subject was lying to him.

"Hoggle." The dwarf corrected.

"Yes." The king replied dryly. "If I really thought for one second that you would betray me I would be forced to suspend you head first over the Bog of Eternal Stench." He said walking forward and forcing the dwarf backward.

The dwarf cowered and latched onto the King's leg. "Oh please your majesty, not the eternal stench!"

"Oh _yes_ Hoggle." The King replied, kneeing Hoggle into the opposite wall. He turned to the runners. "And you three, how are you enjoying my Labyrinth?" he asked.

Masako was in front of the two boys and as such the direct target of the Goblin King's gaze. She looked down at the ground before meeting his gaze once more. "It's a piece of cake." She said not meeting his eyes, trying to sound un-intimidated.

"Oh," Hoggle groaned, placing a hand over his eyes.

"Really?" the King asked in a slightly mocking tone. "Then how about upping the sakes hm?" he asked turning and pointing to a clock which had appeared out of nowhere. He twirled his finger until the hour hand on the clock made two full rotations from where it had been when it appeared.

"That's not fair!" Masako snapped.

The King looked back at her. "You say and think that so often; I wonder what your basis for comparison is…" he said as he walked past them and turned around. Behind him lay a black hole. "So the Labyrinth's a 'piece of cake' is it? Well, let's see how you deal with this little slice." He finished drawing a crystal from thin air between the hands placed in front of him. He held it and pulled an imaginary string before placing it into his other hand and throwing it into the darkness. When it was just out of sight it became something thundering toward them at a frightening pace. The Goblin King backed out of their sight to his right, and the machine became clearer and clearer with each passing second.

"Oh no; the Cleaners!" Hoggle cried turning tail and running as fast as his little legs could carry him. "Run!" he cried as the trio followed his lead.

They ran and ran, trying to keep out of the way of the gigantic, menacing machine. They had run into a locked gate.

"Oh, the Cleaners, the Bog of Stench; you three sure got his attention!" Hoggle whined in panic. The three runners tried pressing on the wall to their right and Hoggle joined them. Pushing and pushing; the machine was gaining on them. Just as all seemed lost the wall gave way under them and they fell forward into a little hollow; to the far left of which was a little rickety ladder.

Hoggle and the others breathed heavily for a minute. "Oh, here's what we need." He said moving towards the passage. "A ladder, follow me."

They did as the dwarf bade and climbed without complaint. Coming to the top Hoggle pushed something open.

"Ah," He said as light flooded in the shaft. One by one they all popped out of a decorative vase in a hedged courtyard. "Here we are then. You're on your own from now on."

"What?" Masako asked exasperatedly.

"That's it, I quit." Hoggle replied.

"Wait a minute…" John trailed into thought.

"Hoggle!" Masako whined.

"Said I didn't promise nothin'." The dwarf told them, already starting to limp away. "I said I'd take ya 's far as I could go." He chuckled a little after.

"You little cheat." Masako accused going after him. "You nasty little cheat!"

"Now don't go tryin' to embarrass me." Hoggle replied; unaffected by the insults and turning a different direction. "I've got no pride."

"Oh really?" Naru asked from far too close for the dwarf's comfort. He snatched the bundle of trinkets from Hoggle's belt and held them up over the dwarf's head.

"Hey!" Hoggle cried. "Them's my jewels! You give 'em back! Give 'em back! Give those back!" he shouted, trying to kick Naru as the boy held the bunch back and moved them out of the dwarf's reach. "Oh," he grumbled as Masako and John tried not to laugh. "give those back to me!"

"Ah, ah, ah." Masako said in a singsong voice. "Now, there's the castle" she said looking over at the edifice rising out of the sky. "Which way are we going to try?" she asked not only the dwarf but the two men as well.

"Them's my rightful property." Hoggle continued. "It's not fair!"

John said nothing, both he and Naru already knowing where this part in the conversation was heading but also knowing it was for Masako to figure out alone.

"No it's not." Masako agreed before something else seemed to dawn on her. "But that's the way it is." She finished somewhat dreamily with the realization.

It was just then they heard a girly and very, _very_ familiar laugh. Looking over they saw a mop of brown hair and two larger than normal cinnamon colored eyes twinkling with mirth and watching them from behind a bush that was behind an empty stone bench.

"Mai?" John and Naru asked simultaneously.

"Mai!" Masako cried in both relief and disbelief.

The figure giggled again before swinging around as though holding to an invisible pole and gracefully depositing themselves back first on the bench. Their hopes immediately fell as they saw that this girl had longer, darker hair, odd eye markings; like the Goblin King's, a slightly curvier figure, and had a silver chain necklace with an odd orb pendant hanging from it while being dressed in a flowy white gypsy shirt with a pair of black wrist-length gloves and a black leather corset paired with a dark blue knee-length skirt; her feet were bare and her ankles were decorated with bands of silver and gold with tiny little charms attached.

"Hello." She said; her voice was like Mai's but it sounded more English, also like the Goblin King's. "Somethin' I can 'elp you with?"

"No, it's nothing." Masako said dejectedly. "You just look like someone we know. Who are you anyway?"

"Me? Well, not sure if I even have a name." the girl replied, chuckling lightly and sweetly. "I mean, my title is Lady Labyrinth, but most people call me Magi." She looked over to where the dwarf was standing. "Oh Hoggle! It's so good to see you again! 'Elpin' runners again now are we? You know how Jareth gets about that." She said in a mock scolding tone, even going so far as to wave a finger at him.

"I knows. These louts," he replied jerking a thumb over his shoulder at them. "gots themselves stuck in an oubliette. And He sents me down there to gets 'em. Damn rat never knows whats 'e wants tho'. Sents the Cleaners after 'em; and me too!"

Magi listened and shook her head as though finding the whole thing somewhat amusing on at least one level. "You know how he gets though; his pride is far larger than this Labyrinth of his." She said laughing with a hand put to her mouth.

"By the ways, what're you doin' here?" Hoggle asked, obviously not afraid though the others noticed the regal aura she exuded.

"I 'ad a feelin' advice'd be needed today. An rather than 'ave wise man an that hat a' 'is bickerin' before givin' the same dry advice 'e gives all runners I figured I'd take matters into me own 'ands." She replied, extending her legs in the air and stretching and relaxing them with all her bored demeanor; mostly ignoring the group in front of her. "Now, what has brought you three here? Surely you didn't _all_ wish someone away did you?" she asked, turning to the trio, all trace of whatever English dialect she'd had a moment ago gone.

"Actually," Masako sighed. "I did. I wished away a, an acquaintance of mine on accident. And now, Naru and John have somehow found themselves forced to help me.I didn't mean it though! I never thought the words would actually work, I swear."

Magi looked at her and sat up from her languid position on the stone bench. "I see." She said, eyes flickering with some indecipherable emotion. "Clearly you 'ave never heard the expression 'the quill is mightier than the sword'. However, there is another part to that expression which was lost over time in your world. In fact I believe the only ones who still know it are those of us here in the Underground. It goes like this; 'the quill is mightier than the sword, but a voice is mightier than the quill.' Words, even when spoken; _especially_ when spoken have a great deal of power. More so down here, but even so; the words won't work unless you truly mean them," here she looked pointedly at the group. "least in the moment."

Suddenly, she cocked a brow at the medium. "But I'm curious; a girl like you don't look like the type to read fairytales 'ny more, 'f ya ever did in the first place. An the only way a mortal could get their hands on the words is through the story about this place. So, how did you get the _right words_?" she inquired, dialect back again.

"It, the book I got them out of belonged to the one I wished away…" Masako replied guiltily.

"Ahh, I see." Magi replied. "The girl-child still waitin' at the castle; it was your fault she's 'ere. Hmph." She huffed, rising and starting to stroll a little; Hoggle followed after her. "Usin' a child's possessions against 'em; your cruelty might just be a match for our monarch's little girl." She stopped pacing and looked at them. "Would you like to hear a story?" she asked, abruptly changing the subject, and the dialect once again vanishing.

"As nice as that would be we really don't have time to hear one." Naru replied curtly.

"And why not?" Magi persisted.

"We have to save our friend." John said gently. "We don't even know if she's alright. And as Kazuya said, we don't have time to idle away."

"P'sha," Magi scoffed snapping her fingers, the sound amplified by the dry shiny leather. A gilded clock with their time left on it appeared by her side. "You think the Goblin King is the only one able to manipulate time?" as she spoke she twirled her finger in the opposite direction the Goblin King had during their time in the tunnels. The clock's hands moved back two hours.

"There, now you've plenty of time to listen to a little story. And as for your friend," she flicked her wrist much as the Goblin King had during their first encounter. A crystal appeared out of nowhere. Magi peered into it for a second before holding it out to the teens. "Here; behold the maiden, sleeping sound, on the dank and dirty ground." She told them, chuckling slightly at her waxing Shakespearian.

They did as she bade and there was Mai; sleeping soundly in a pit in the center of a large room in the Goblin King's castle despite the numerous causes of noise around her from what they could see since the crystal did not come with auditory aid.

Magi pulled the crystal back and made it vanish without a second thought. "There, you've seen that the girl-child is in no danger. Now-"

"She will be if we waste time." Naru cut in.

"She'll be turned into a goblin." John added.

Magi, who had looked pretty miffed at being interrupted, suddenly gave them a strange look before bursting into laughter; Hoggle joining in with her.

"G-goblin!?" Magi managed to say through the exuberant burst of humor and mirth. "Y-you really think Jareth would turn her into a, a goblin!?" there was a few minutes in which the only noises to be heard were that of Magi and Hoggle's laughter and heavy pants for breath. When they had recovered enough, Magi rose from where she had fallen to the ground and looked at them once more. "Whatever gave you that ridiculous idea?"

"The Goblin King, I assume Jareth is his name, told us so." Masako replied.

"I don't believe I've ever heard Jareth say somethin' like that…" Magi said trailing off into thought. "But why don't we watch your journey so far and clear up this little misunderstanding, hm?" she pulled another crystal into view. This one showed everything that had transpired so far; and when it was done Magi laughed. "My, my you three; to use a mortal expression 'jumped the gun' on that one didn't you?" she seemed to slip in and out of her dialect, it wasn't even useful to point out when it stopped; you could just tell.

"What do you mean?" Naru asked.

"You obviously weren't paying attention to both Jareth and your friend's words. Never once did I hear Jareth say the girl would become a goblin."

"How could you not?" John, along with the others, was extremely confused.

"Jareth, in your story, said nothing about the girl becoming a goblin. And the Goblin King in your friend's story told the heroine that the baby would 'become one of us forever'. That does not translate to being turned into a goblin." Magi replied. "That merely means becoming a denizen of the Underground. Look at Jareth, and look at Hoggle and myself. Do we look like goblins to you?" she asked them.

"No, by the way; what are you and Jareth?" Masako asked.

"We are faery folk. Fae is what we are most commonly called though." Magi explained. "Jareth and I are Fae; though we wear our pendants as a symbol of our station and as a king he slightly outranks me, Hoggle is a dwarf, and there are many other creatures who make the Labyrinth and the Goblin Kingdom their home. So 'one of us' does not necessarily mean that a wished-away child would become a goblin."

"Oh…" the trio chorused in unison.

Magi snickered turning to the dwarf. "I believe you were right Hoggle," she told him. "These three are undoubtedly slow. The last runner we had was ever so much cleverer; already at the castle by now."

"How were they at the castle already? This place is huge!" Masako exclaimed.

"See that's your problem." Magi pointed out. "Nearly all you mortals ask the wrong questions; if you ask any at all. I believe what slows most runners down is the fact that they allow themselves to be led like sheep. And when they don't they ask the wrong questions. Let me tell you the story I wanted to tell you.

"A long time ago; there lived a mortal girl Aboveground. Her mother was American, and her father Japanese. Her mother believed herself to be the most beautiful and intelligent woman ever to live and as she received praise along that vein she became vain herself.

"Now, the mother met the father when he came to learn about American culture. They fell in love, married, and returned to his home country as he could not stay in hers. The mother did not mind; she would be an exotic beauty in a foreign land. Men would watch her wherever she walked. It pleased her to no end. However, when the woman became with child, things started to change. She started to worry more and more about her appearance; even so far as to think of ridding her body of the child growing within her. But the husband would not hear of it and convinced her to retain the baby and let it be born. So she did.

"The child was born; a beautiful and healthy baby girl. She was her father's pride and joy, much to the mother's consternation. Though the father loved them equally; a baby requires much more attention than a full grown adult, and so when the father returned from work he would spend the rest of his waking hours with his child.

"The woman became jealous of how her husband continually doted on their child; buying her gift after gift after gift while the woman herself was ignored. She was not and never had been, but her envy blinded her to the truth. Disheartened the woman began to call a babysitter while her husband worked, and sought attention from multiple other men at a time. Affair after affair after affair for the first few years of the child's life. When the husband found out he immediately filed for divorce, he saw theirs was a marriage past the point of saving.

"He moved out with his daughter and continued to love and care for her the best he knew how. And though the child could not verbally express it, she was happy too. But like all things, happiness cannot always last eternal.

"There was an incident at the man's work when the girl was five years old. He died saving a coworker's life, and left behind a daughter who missed him greatly. As is custom with the loss of a legal guardian a child must go to the closest living relative, so the girl went to live with her mother. The child brought with her two things; an educated yet innocent outlook, and a battered red leather-bound book written in English: a gift from the mother's parents to their son-in-law which he had given to her.

"The routine life the woman had built after the divorce was priority for the mother. She was determined not to let it fall apart. She had a successful job and so hired a babysitter to be there at all times to care for the child. The sitter was a teenage girl who came from a family that spoiled her and always gave her her own way.

"When the child disobeyed the sitter locked her in the bedroom. The child had only her book for her friend. The mother never allowed her to make any at school, for fear the other mothers would find out about her through the child. The mother wanted nothing to do with her child and made sure that the happiness she felt robbed of because of the child was given back tenfold. This went on, and after six months of dealing with such a horrible life the child's imagination took hold. Her father had once told her that a story was only as real as you believed it to be. So if she believed her story was real, then maybe she could free herself.

"The child wished the goblins would come and take the sitter. And they did. The child was confronted by the Goblin King, who like in all situations similar to this; offered the child her dreams in exchange for the sitter.

"The child refused. And the King, intrigued by the fact that the girl had only refused without stating a reason, asked why. The child explained that though she had meant her words when she said them, the sitter was not hers to do with and dispose of as she pleased. The child went on to say she knew refusing her dreams would not be enough and voluntarily offered to run the Labyrinth in exchange for the sitter's freedom. The King agreed.

"So her challenge began. Much like you she had difficulty with Hoggle, but managed to get inside. However, unlike you three and many before you, when she came upon the worm she actually took the time to listen to what he had to say instead of running off blindly. When the worm told her not to go 'that way' she returned to him and asked why. He then told her that way lead straight to the castle. So the child followed the path. Rather than needing thirteen hours her journey to the center took only two. The goblins inside the city did not try to stop her and she reached the castle quickly; but rather than trying to defeat the King she offered him a deal.

"The child had felt more at home in the Underground in the few hours she'd spent there than she had in the six months she'd lived in her mother's house and offered to take the sitter's place. However, she knew that disappearing wouldn't really solve anything and she did want to live a normal human life; just with some friends and the magic of the Underground too. So she said she would return permanently and remain a subject of the Underground the day her mother died. The King agreed, feeling remorse and pity for the girl; as he had felt her strings of magic long before she'd made her wish and looked in upon her once or twice in her life; once with her father and once with the woman who bore her. And he too felt a little retribution was in order; so he sent her back, along with a few goblins to grant her wishes and keep her happy. It would spite the woman to see the child not miserable as she had the few times she'd ever bothered to return to her apartment.

"The child lived as happily as she had when living with her father living with the goblins and other creatures of the Labyrinth in her life and her 'mother' out of the picture for the most part. Though she longed to return to the Underground permanently she knew she could not, not until her mother; the only person she was legally appointed to, was through living. It came pass seven years to the day the deal was struck.

"The mother, after divorcing her husband had chosen to live the life of a harlot. It was only fitting she died the death of one too. Shot to death by a jealous ex-lover. The child asked to visit him once before she was spirited away forever. And she told the man one thing as she saw him in his cell. 'Thank you so much. Now I can be free'. She disappeared after that and has lived here ever since."

"…" the three runners were speechless.

"Wait, what does that have to do with anything?" Masako asked.

Magi looked at her for a moment before slapping a hand to her forehead and dragging it down her face. "The child was able to solve the Labyrinth faster because she did not allow herself to be led like a sheep and asked the right questions. Here in the Underground; one cannot ask how something was accomplished, everything here is done through physical or magical means. The question to ask here in the Underground is _why_, especially since nothing is what it seems in this place. The girl asked the worm why not to go left and ended up cutting her journey by more than half the time it'll take you to-" the sound of footsteps caught her attention. "Quickly, this way." She whispered, motioning for the others to follow her into a part of the hedge maze.

As they left they caught a glimpse of a woman casually strolling through before the foliage hid them from sight.

"Who was that?" John asked.

"The Lady of the Labyrinth." Magi replied.

"I thought you were the Lady of the Labyrinth." Naru told her.

"No, my title is Lady Labyrinth; though easily confused has a slight difference with her title." Magi explained.

"Why can't we let her see us?" Masako wanted to know.

"You cannot ask nor accept help from anyone here. After Jareth was beaten the first time he made that a rule. He went easy on you three because it was your first offense and Hoggle's excuse is that dwarves are prone to taking bribes in exchange for anything. But if the Lady saw you she'd want to help; Jareth's penalty for that is far greater than losing two hours to solve this thing and it does not include just you who receives punishment." Magi practically hissed due to her voice being so hushed.

"Who is the Lady of the Labyrinth anyways?" John asked.

"Are you up for another story?" Magi asked.

"Brass tacks now, the details can be saved for another time." Naru replied.

"Very well. The Lady of the Labyrinth is, quite simply, Jareth's equal in everything. She has been the only one to best the Goblin King at his own game and he is a very sore loser. The Lady is in all aspects equal to the King; in will, kingdom, and passion." Magi explained, albeit the last part rather reluctantly.

"You mean..?" John trailed off, his cheeks turning petal pink.

"The Fae are most known for two things." Magi replied holding up two fingers to emphasize her points. "A love of games; and a vast knowledge of delights of the flesh. In such a respect without giving too much away, the King is far from innocent. The Lady is certainly one who can hold her own, but I worry for both her and the King sometimes…"

"Why?" Masako was surprised at herself, she wasn't normally so curious about someone else's affairs but then again, this wasn't a very normal situation; even by her standards of "normal".

"Well, you see, we Fae are extremely long-lived; about as close to immortal as anything can get really. The King easily seniors the Lady by about thirteen hundred years, and though I am not _that_ much younger than he the difference in ages between the lady and myself is still significantly smaller than that of his with the Lady's. Not only that but, tell me; what do you think the purpose of a Labyrinth is?" not receiving an answer Magi continued. "In its most philosophical sense, a Labyrinth is used to ponder deep-thought inquiries and the morality and ethics of the world around us. In its most physical sense, a Labyrinth like this is used as a manner of defense, to keep something safe and hidden away from unwanted people. However, in this situation; this Labyrinth is used in the extremes of both aspects."

"How so?" Naru asked.

"Well, the philosophical sense is applied to runners like you." Magi replied. "Runners learn different and invaluable life-lessons while going through the Labyrinth and whether you succeed or fail you will take those with you the rest of your life. As to the physical sense well…" she took a deep breath. "Though I was not around at the time, legend has it that Jareth is the first and _only_ King of the Goblins. The thirteen, nearly fourteen hundred years prior to this moment Jareth was in an entirely other realm. He met a sorceress named Mizumi at a ball and with a mutual attraction they became lovers. They would travel from world to world just whiling away until that world's time came to an end. Around what you mortals consider the year six-hundred Jareth and Mizumi stumbled upon a swamp filled with goblins. Tired of Mizumi after finding her to be dull and superficial Jareth rejoiced in these new creatures. As such he ignored Mizumi's wishes to leave and set up establishing the Goblin Kingdom with himself at the helm. He created the Labyrinth as the crown jewel of his new kingdom, where he and he alone reigned supreme.

"Mizumi, however, was not a woman used to the word 'no'. And so Jareth challenged her; he would allow the sorceress to stay with him if she was able to find his heart: which he claimed to have hidden inside the Labyrinth. Try as she might, Mizumi did not succeed and so left, though she never stopped pining for the Goblin King. But it's not really important is it? Mizumi is a minor player in this reality anyways. Now I know what you're thinking; 'how is he still alive if his heart is separate from his body?' right? Well, I believe that instead of removing his heart completely he merely fragmented it; and spread a few pieces of it out in the maze. In this sense, the Labyrinth is a physical barrier to keep anyone from touching his heart. The Lady has been the first since Mizumi to ever catch his eye, and I believe that she; as she was once mortal herself, still knows what it feels like to love wholly and completely. Jareth, on the other hand, has always fancied her, but without the other pieces of his heart I fear he will never truly know what love is; no matter what he claims."

Magi turned to them. "I believe Mizumi failed because she merely fancied Jareth. Her will and determination was not strong enough. Jareth's cruelty exists because it is the one thing that has not failed him for many years. I beseech you, please help him. Though many travel through the Labyrinth, they do not look to help him, for he is their villain. Treat him not as a villain, and you just may be able to succeed. I know he has reclaimed one fragment, but I feel a faint pulse through the land; it is the last shard of his heart, but I do not know where it lies hidden." Magi looked around. "Your two hours are nearly up." She said solemnly. "And so I'd best be on my way if I were you."

"You seem a little eager for us to reach the castle, why is that?" Naru asked.

Magi smiled. "Because I know what else lies in the castle beyond the Goblin City."

"What?" piped John.

"One of you lost something four years ago." Magi replied vaguely. "And the Underground is the place where all lost, broken, and unwanted things and people go. The reason you two are also here is to help reclaim that which has been thought lost forever. So I hope you'll succeed."

"You're giving us your blessing?" Masako seemed confused. "Why?"

"Never mind why. Hoggle will guide you to the Dark Forest. Take care not to stray off the path and not to talk to anyone unless necessary." She waved her hand, and a path appeared from the wall of hedges. "I have faith in you, you will succeed. Until we meet again, and I assure you we will. Good luck with your journey." She called as they walked away. "Oh, and don't acknowledge the existence of the Fireys, if you do you may end up losing your head!"

"One more thing!" Masako called as they got further and further.

"Yes?"

"Why do you look so much like the one we're looking for? It's uncanny."

Magi smiled. "Mayhaps it's because you imagine me so. After all the Labyrinth is influenced by you as much as you are influenced by it."

* * *

They continued following Hoggle through the hedge maze and looked over their shoulders; seeing Magi get smaller and smaller until she disappeared from sight behind a wall of foliage. After she was gone they continued on in silence, until they heard a pained roar coming from a glen. Hoggle recognized it and ran to the scene, still following Maya's wish they trailed after him. Upon entering the clearing they saw a large orange shaggy-haired beast being strung by its ankles and tormented by goblins who held a sharp-toothed beast on the end of a stick.

"Ludo!" Hoggle cried barreling towards the group.

"Ho-gle!" the beast cried back. They caught a glimpse of the pain etched on the creature's face and leapt in to help as well. Between the four of them they were able to scare the goblins and their torture stick away and help the beast down to his feet. "Ho-gle." The beast said again. "Fwiends?" he asked looking at the runners with the dwarf.

"Yes Ludo, friends." Hoggle replied somewhat resignedly. He looked to the three humans. "You's must forgives 'im. Ludo still 'as troubles speakin' sometimes."

"His name is Ludo?" Masako asked.

"Yea, but yer names mights be too long for 'im ta gets right. Might wants ta thinks a somethin' else." Hoggle told them.

"I'm John." John said stepping forward to Ludo. Ludo pulled John into a hug.

"Jawn fwiend!" Ludo cried happily.

"Naru." Naru said also stepping forward.

"Nawu fwiend!" Ludo cried again, pulling Naru into the hug as well.

"Masako." Masako told Ludo, sounding it out in syllables for the creature to understand.

"Mashako fwiend!" and now Masako was in on the hug.

"Greats, now yer all friends; let's gets goin'." Hoggle said leading them on. Ludo released them long enough to allow them to catch up and lumber along slightly behind them.

They continued on the path until they came to a wall with two doors carved into it. Both had goblin head knockers; but the ring of the left one went through the goblin's ears, and the ring on the right was held between its lips.

"Well, come on!" Hoggle snapped crankily. "Picks a door!"

"Which one leads where?" Masako asked.

"Not allowed ta tells ya!" Hoggle reminded them testily. "Asks the doors 'emselves!"

"Right," Masako walked over. "Excuse me,"

"What did you say?" the one with the ring through its ears shouted. The one with the ring in its mouth said something, but it came out garbled and completely undecipherable.

Masako looked at them for a moment before going to the one with the ring in its mouth and pulling it out.

"Oh thank you!" the knocker said. "You have no idea what it's like to have that thing in your mouth for so long."

"You're welcome. Now maybe you can help us, we need to get through here and-"

"Say no more." The knocker cut in. "but don't bother asking _that one_ anything. He won't hear you anyway." He explained as the second knocker kept repeating its question. "So, choose a door and enter through."

"But which door goes where?"

"'Serts me, we're just the knockers!" the knocker replied with a hoarse chuckle.

"But there's no knob." Masako pointed out.

"No, but knock and the door will open." The knocker replied.

"Oh," Masako looked at the ring in her hand. "Oh! I get it." she tried putting the ring back in the knocker's mouth. He kept it closed. Masako frowned before holding the knocker's nose until it was forced to breathe through its mouth and shoved the ring back in.

"Sorry." Masako said as she knocked and started forward.

"It's alright, I'm used to it." the knocker replied through the ring as the door swung open.

Following the path they soon wandered into a forest with dense foliage, letting almost no light in. they assumed this was the Dark Forest Maya had told them about. As they wandered along there came a rhythm which surrounded them. Glancing around they saw the silhouettes of creatures with glowing red eyes watching them from around tree trunks and bushes.

"What are those things?" Masako whispered, slightly frightened.

"Not sure, but maybe we should take Miss Magi's advice to heart and just ignore everyone else besides Hoggle and Ludo." John replied.

"I'm still frightened." Masako admitted.

"Here," John said offering her his hand. "Kazuya and I'll keep you safe, but you can take it if you want."

Masako shyly accepted the proffered hand and squeezed it tightly. John squeezed back as though to assure her everything was going to be alright.

Naru watched the exchange and mentally sighed in relief. Hopefully, Masako might fall out of "love" with him and in love with John. It would sure make his life a lot easier. Now all he had to do was focus on M-. Mai. He would never admit it, not even to himself, but Mai had ensnared him from the day they met. She was the only one to defy him, ever question why he did something instead of trusting him and his intellect. And while it could be frustrating at that moment in time, it was also very refreshing; a nice change of pace for him. He wanted to get her back safe and sound and that was all there was to it.

Now they were being confronted by these wild creatures with glowing red eyes and feathered heads and long gangly limbs and beaks for mouths.

"What are those things?" Masako was very close to shrieking by this point.

"Fireys," Hoggle replied, keeping his voice low. "Don't pay no 'tention to 'em and they'll leaves us alone."

And it was true. By ignoring the creatures completely they soon became bored with the travelers and left them alone. However, there came a rustling through the trees and the sound of music caught their ears.

"What is that sound?" John asked.

"Don't knows, never heard its befores in my lifes." Hoggle replied. "Best to stays away from its anyways though."

"It's so…. Pretty…." Masako said dreamily, veering off the path and following the sound.

"Ms. Hara!" the boys cried.

"Mashako!" Ludo called.

She didn't listen to any of them and kept on walking into the forest.

"Quickly, before we lose her completely." Naru ordered. The group ran into the growth after her.

Soon they came upon a different clearing where Masako stood absolutely still, staring dreamily at a sight not one of them could utter an apt word to describe.

A young female clad in a black leotard and tutu was dancing fouette' turns on the forest floor like a ballerina would on a grand stage. Her skin was the color of bleached bones, the leotard strapless and clinging to her body. Long white legs stood out from under the tutu, she wore no tights, and her feet were clad in slippers of the same ebony color; the laces running up past her knees. Her hair was matched to her clothes, and ran as a short cut with a feather like piece sticking out from the top. She took no notice of the audience, and the ethereal music played from some unknown spot; the strings of some instrument being plucked one, then three.

The girl stopped turning and opened her eyes; black as the night devoid of the stars. Elongating her steps with dancer grace; she walked towards them, her mouth open and moving.

_Come little children_

_I'll take thee away_

_Into a land of enchant-ment_

_Come little children_

_The time's come to play_

_Here in my garden of shadows_

From all around them came a chorus of soft, sorrowful wails. Backing the girl as continued toward them en pointe; arms extended behind her. Naru and the others had had the sense to put their fingers in their ears after the first note had come out.

_Follow sweet children_

_I'll show thee the way_

_Through all the pain_

_And the sorrows_

_Weep not poor children_

_For life is this way_

_Murdering beauty and passions_

Again the chorus of wails came along. The dancer made her way to Masako, who had been standing more inside the clearing from the beginning while the rest had stood still in the tree line.

"What is it?" John asked.

"Sirens..." Naru muttered. "Ms. Hara's been entranced by a siren. Whatever you do don't unplug your ears."

_Hush now dear children_

_It must be this way_

_Too weary of life and deceptions_

_Rest now my children_

_For soon we'll away_

_Into the calm and the quiet_

The stringed instrument and the chorus of wails took over as the siren took Masako by the hand and led her to the middle of the clearing, turning the girl so she faced her friends while the siren continued to dance around her. Masako stood swaying, amethyst eyes cloudy, dull, and unseeing. Suddenly, the siren held up a hand, the chorus stopped. The instrument went from playing a melody to chords again.

_Come little children_

_I'll take thee away_

_Into a land of enchant-ment_

_Come little children_

_The time's come to play_

_Here in my garden of shadows…_

The chorus took over as the siren pushed on Masako's shoulders, gently forcing the medium to her knees. The siren tilted Masako's head up and drew open her mouth. The siren opened her own and leaned over Masako's face, tilting it at an angle to have easier access. The siren began to breathe in, and a small light turquoise mist stemming out of Masako's mouth as her eyes rolled back into her head before closing completely.

Everyone watched stunned for a moment. Then Hoggle was able to stutter;

"Wha-what is that thing doing to the little lady?"

"Killing her." Naru answered bluntly.

"H-hows?"

"Legend has it that sirens are creatures who use the power of their songs to lure unsuspecting victims to their death. They feed off the souls of their victim's in order to survive. This theory has never been proven however since there's still no scientific evidence of the existence of the human soul."

"Me thinks there's proof enough nows."

As they were standing there discussing the existence of the human souls John and Ludo watched Masako fall to death; her skin becoming paler and her body becoming slack, the muscles not having the direction to hold her upright anymore.

"Ms. Hara!" John cried, running out into the clearing and distracting the siren from its meal.

Angered at this interruption the creature rose, dropping Masako completely onto the ground and faced the young priest from her hunched over stance.

"Leave her alone!" he ordered.

The harpy chuckled evilly and drew to her full height; much taller than she had appeared at first sighting. She stared down the blond and flashed him a malicious grin, her teeth now sharpened into pointed daggers. Her legs straightened until there came a snap at the knees. They now bent backwards like the hind legs of a predator. Her arms rose out at the sides, like a bird preparing for flight. Her elbows straightened until they too snapped, now bending down like the curve of a wing. She jumped straight up, out of sight. John raced to Masako when suddenly there came a great screeching; like the call of a griffin. John looked up just in time to see talons slash him across the chest with such force he was torn away and tossed a few feet from where Masako lay. He leaned up on his elbows and saw a great black bird with the head of the siren looming over Masako possessively.

"Father Brown! Get back here!" Naru called.

"I can't!" John shouted back, _'At least if its focused on me it can't harm Ms. Hara.'_ He struggled to find something to attack the creature with when he felt a heavy weight in the pocket of his light jacket. Reaching inside he found a jewel encrusted golden cross, he couldn't remember ever owning something like that. He stared at the cross for a moment when it grew and rounded out in his hand. The longer part of the cross had become the blade of a large silver sword. John stared back at the siren as it eyed the weapon ominously.

John gazed at the monster and felt his grip on the lance tighten. He whispered to himself, drawing together his courage. "In the beginning, there was the word. And the word was with God. And the word was God…" he faced down his opponent, unafraid.

The siren stared at him a moment longer before charging. The priest charged ahead, sword outstretched to meet the beast. Weapon met flesh, the force causing the fighters to surge back. John got up, roughly unscathed. The siren fell on its back, the sword lodged in its chest. It didn't move, but let out one howl of agony before decomposing into nothing more than a scorch mark on the grass; the sword that had felled it now a cross wedged into the earth.

John rushed over to the medium's side, helping her to sit up a little. He couldn't contain his sigh of relief as the little color she possessed returned to her cheeks. She groaned.

"Ms. Hara?" John said on the breadth of a whisper.

Eyes opened, and amethysts gazed back at him; full of life as they should have been the whole time.

"John?" Masako asked. "What happened?"

"You were attacked by a siren." He answered plainly. "But it's alright now. It's gone, you're safe." He helped her to stand, she clung to his am; still shaken by almost dying.

"Good work Father Brown." Naru said as they made their way back to the path, noting that the slash marks on the jacket probably had not penetrated the flesh because the young priest didn't seem to be in any pain. There was a silent agreement never to speak of what had just transpired again.

Eventually, they came upon a rocky cliff face with a rope dangling down from it. Hoggle climbed up first and made sure the rope was still secure before telling the others to climb up too. Ludo had disappeared sometime before that, but Hoggle told them not to worry; said that Ludo knew the rope wouldn't be sturdy enough for him and was taking another way. They climbed up the rope and asked where they were to go from here. Hoggle pointed to a hole in the ground.

"You can't be serious." Masako said gazing into the depth of black space.

"I is as serious as I can be's." Hoggle replied. "Quickest way throughs is by goin' down that hole."

"How do we know it's safe?" John asked, still not having let go of Masako's hand.

"Looks, I can'ts go first, but I beens down this way befores. Yous have nothin' ta worrys abouts."

Masako and John still eyed the dwarf suspiciously, and Naru decided to take the plunge since Hoggle was doing what Maya had asked of him so there was no reason to distrust him, and that the more time they stood there the less time they had to rescue Mai. He took a deep breath, sighed, and jumped in. he felt himself slide down a dirt tunnel into what could have been an aqueduct and end up stopping at the edge of a cliff which abruptly dropped into a large pit of liquid which smelled; there really wasn't a word to describe how awful the stench was.

Realizing that the others would probably be coming down any second Naru stood and made ready to keep them from falling over the edge. He thankfully kept all the others from falling, and Hoggle told them the only way to get out of this was by edging their way across. He had also warned them against stepping in the water as they made their way through the mucky terrain. They came upon a little hut near the end of; well they guessed it was the Bog of Eternal Stench, they figured it wouldn't smell this bad unless it was what all of the King's subjects feared. Sitting outside was a little fox-terrier on top of a sheepdog dressed in a doublet and hose. The theme in this place seemed to be dark romantic medieval apparently.

"Didymus!" Hoggle called.

"Brother Hoggle? Brother Ludo? What brings thee here to mine humble abode?"

"Runners," Hoggle said by way of explanation.

"Ah, then thou knowest what I must do." Didymus replied.

"Yea, yeah. Let's gets on with it."

"Very well." Didymus turned to the runners. "Stop! Stop I say!"

"What?" Masako exclaimed.

"Thou shalt not pass!" the little fox-terrier creature replied.

"Why not?" John asked.

"I have taken an oath to protect this bridge." Truthfully, it was a path of stepping stones rising out of the bog water but it did make a bridge leading to what was hopefully the exit.

"What was your oath?" Naru asked.

"Without mine permission, no one may cross" Didymus answered.

"Okay, may we cross your bridge?" Masako asked politely.

Didymus stunned for a moment, the eye not covered by a patch blinking owlishly at them. "Verily then." He nodded his assent and allowed the group to pass, following behind them. "Just like old times my brothers?" he asked Ludo and Hoggle.

"Yeah," Hoggle agreed. "these three is just as much troubles as She was when She first cames through."

"Verily." The little knight agreed. "Onward Ambrosius; or I'll never feed you again!"

They made their way out of the bog; those who could smell had their noses singing to the heavens, and into another stretch of forest.

"What forest is this?" Masako asked.

"The Enchanted Forest." Hoggle replied.

Just then, a low growl made itself heard through the comfortable silence and soft noises of the forest.

Masako flushed. "I'm hungry?" she offered as an explanation.

"I am too." John agreed. "Is there anything to eat around here?"

"Dunno," Hoggle replied. "I don't comes this way much 'nymores."

The runners looked around and saw a huge tree laden with fruit.

"Is that a peach tree?" Masako asked.

"I think so," John replied. "let's get some fruit to eat. Kazuya, are you coming?"

"I might as well," Naru answered. "it won't do any good to continue on an empty stomach."

The three Underground traveling companions had not heard the conversation of the three runners and had not seen them stray off until hearing the snapping of the fruit coming off the tree. The turned around to see the humans sinking their teeth into the peaches they'd picked.

"No!" Hoggle cried.

"Desist!" called Sir Didymus.

"Fwoot bad!" Ludo managed to choke out, but it was too late. All three fell to the ground in an enchanted slumber, each having only taken one bite out of their peach.

* * *

"Guys? Guys!" they heard a voice call. All three opened their eyes to see Mai staring down at them; lines of concern etched in her face.

"Mai?" John said hesitantly.

"Mai! I thought you were gone." Masako said, heaving a sigh of relief.

Mai frowned slightly and cocked her head to the side. "Where would I have gone?" she asked them.

"I thought I wished you away to the goblins, but it was all just a dream." The medium replied.

"…" Mai didn't respond to that, instead she merely looked ahead blankly and emotionlessly.

Naru got up from where he was lying on the ground and reached out to the brunette. As soon as he touched her Mai's now dull brown eyes rolled back into her head, and her whole body fell to the ground face first. They gasped; there was no warning, no word of danger, and no blood. All there was was a single girl, lying dead on the cobblestone floor; the weapon in the small of her back: a dagger with a tiny crystal decorating the end of the hilt. What a sick joke.

Footsteps that were not any of theirs echoed across the stones, booted heels clicked and clacked. Out of the corner of their eyes they saw an arm encased in the sleeve of a white, ruffle-cuffed shirt and an ebony leather-clad hand with nimble fingers curl around the handle and slowly drag the blade upward and out of the poor girl's body. Just as there had been no blood going in, there was none coming out either, it must have been a charmed or enchanted weapon. Their gaze flickered to the face of the Goblin King as he coolly and detachedly assessed the weapon; checking for any stains on the cold metal. He showed no remorse, though his characteristic arrogance, regality, and overall feral attitude were missing. He almost seemed, subdued, as though this was something he had not wanted but had done against his will.

"Why?" Naru had asked. Why indeed, that was the question you had to ask here according to Magi, and now it made perfect sense. He couldn't ask how the Goblin King could do this; it was pretty clear that the deed had been done with a Fae weapon, or a weapon enhanced by Fae magic. But _why_ had he done it; that was what Naru really wanted to know.

Instead of replying, the Goblin King merely turned the dagger, letting it glint in the light before tossing it into the air for it to disappear. He then gathered up Mai's still form in his arms and turned; starting back to where he had come from in the first place. Forgetting all about Masako and John Naru ran after the Fae king. He didn't know exactly what he was going to do, but Naru knew that when he caught up with that vile, twisted male he was going to pay. That seemed to be the problem though; though the Goblin King never sped the pace of his strides Naru could never catch up even when running full throttle. It was frustrating and it tore at his heart to know that not only was Mai gone forever from his life; but that he would never even be able to visit her place of burial. It was as though the sadistic Fae king wanted to erase all physical memory of Mai's existence; leaving only a painful hollow of memories in his chest. Eventually, the Goblin King and his cargo disappeared from view, and Naru was finally able to move forward enough to try and catch up to them, but to no avail.

It was then he saw a clock etched out of stone; the time showing twelve. Twelve, why did that number mean something? He was too caught up in grief to remember much; the pain he felt now was like the pain he felt when he learned of his brother's death, only this felt so much worse. There came a sudden onslaught to the front of his head, something wasn't right. How did he suddenly end up in a different part of the Labyrinth; the last thing he remembered before falling unconscious was eating that peach, and some vague words the creatures guiding them had uttered as he fell under. What were they?

"… _Bad!" _ Bad? No, this grief hurt, but he would get over it in time, he hoped. No, that wasn't it. The word wasn't talking about what had transpired. What was it..? Oh why couldn't he remember? _Why_. Of course, Maya had said that was the question to ask, he had asked the Goblin King but there was something completely off about his character there. He had a feeling the Goblin King, through his cruel nature would have at least taunted them with the death of the one they were fighting for…

Fighting for, they had been on their way to rescue Mai and had gotten hungry. Bad, the voice had been Ludo's; what had he been saying was bad? He couldn't really understand the first word; it had been something like foot. No, they hadn't been anywhere near anything that had to do with feet. Flute? No, there had been no music where they were. Fwoot? Yes, that had been the word, but what did the beast mean by that? He didn't know what a fwoot was, though he had held the peach in his hand when Ludo said it…

Wait a second, fwoot… Fruit! The fruit was bad! Ludo had said that as they had all taken a bite of the peaches they had picked. Maybe that meant that this wasn't real at all, and that Mai was still alive! He could feel his heat expand and start to flutter uncontrollably. He didn't know why, but he didn't have time to analyze; he glanced at the clock, he _really_ didn't have time to analyze. But how to get out? And suddenly, the answer was right in front of him; literally. A large door with the word 'exit' scrawled across the top of the frame. Not very creative or imaginative in the least but it worked for him. Pulling the knob he stepped through and fell into a black abyss.

* * *

He awoke to the sensation of being shaken. His eyes opened to reveal the withered face of the gate gardener.

"Thanks the stars yer awakes!" Hoggle cried. "Yer runnin' out o' times!"

Naru sat up and saw Masako and John still asleep. Damn, he needed them to wake up, now!

"Think you or one of your friends could wake them up?" Naru asked, rising from the ground and dusting himself off.

"Some bog water oughta do the tricks, but I don't thinks ye'll wants ta deal with the smells. It ain't called the Bog of Eternal Stench fer nothin' ye knows." Hoggle replied.

"Any other ideas?" Naru turned to the other Labyrinthine residents.

"Wocks," Ludo offered.

"And by that he means…"

"Rocks my friend. Brother Ludo wishes to call some rocks to wake your companions." Didymus explained.

"Tempting as that sounds, I think not." He looked at Hoggle. "I think we might have to resort to your shaking technique."

"My what?" Hoggle asked in confusion.

"We'll shake them awake." Naru simplified.

"Oh, well why didn't ya says so?" Hoggle replied, going over to the teenage medium and grabbing her shoulders. Naru went over to John and mimicked the dwarf's position.

In a matter of minutes, the other two runners were awake.

"What happened?" Masako asked.

"The peaches we ate were poisoned. By the way," Naru turned to their three guides. "how did you know something was wrong with the fruit?"

"Well, long time ago Jareth forced me to gives a peach to a runner. Didn't wants to but he threatened me withs the bog 'f I didn't. Gave the little lass the peach and she fell under too. The peach sent her unders from only a bites. Peach was lefts there for years after and grews into a peach tree. Calls it the tree of Eve we does; fruit pulls ya fall unders and makes ya ferget." Hoggle explained, slightly ashamed at the mention of his past actions. "We tried ta warns ya, but ye'd already tooks a bite."

"It's alright mate." John soothed. "It was our fault we didn't ask before taking the fruit."

"Isn't there a rule in fairy tales?" Masako asked out of the blue. "One that says never to eat any fruit offered to you?"

"and how long has it been since _any_ of us has read a fairy tale?" Naru countered.

"Good point Kazuya." John conceded. "At least we got out of it all before we died or something like that."

"But now we only have an hour left to save Mai." Naru informed them.

"We need to get going." Masako agreed. "Where to next?" she asked.

"The junk fields, verily." Didymus replied. "Follow us! Onward Ambrosius!"

They followed the denizens of the strange land and eventually found themselves in a huge junkyard which could pass for a maze of its own. There were several goblins walking around with large piles on their backs, including one who had a horrendously gnarled face and a larger mound than the others over her hunched back.

"Who's that?" Masako asked.

"The Junk Lady." Hoggle replied. "Leader of the goblins what lives here."

"Oh…" Masako wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that.

"So how do we get through?" John questioned.

"Gots ta wanders we do." Hoggle told them.

"Hey!" called a scratchy voice. "Hold it right there!"

The group turned and saw the junk lady motioning towards them. Ambrosius startled and ran off with sir Didymus on his back, Ludo and Hoggle ran after him. Now the three runners were left all alone in the Junk Fields.

"Why're ya disturbin' me an the others? Ya need ta gets outta here!" she said, obviously irritated by their presence.

"We're trying to find the way out." Masako supplied, trying to assure the crotchety old hag they were leaving as soon as possible.

"Really?" the junk lady asked, her tone of voice becoming soft and gentle. "You need to leave right now?"

Naru nodded. "Well, we do have other things to accomplish at the moment so if you would be so kind as to-"

"Nonsense." The junk lady scoffed. "Come with me, you'll never make it out in time wandering 'round by yourselves."

Unsure of how to answer they followed the woman; she pulled back a tattered old curtain back to reveal the SPR office. Masako, John and Naru all shuffled inside; looking at the normal scenery with a sort of underappreciated awe.

"Was it all just a dream?" Masako asked mutedly.

"I don't think so, but I'm not sure myself." John replied. "What do you think Kazuya?"

"…" Naru didn't have a response. How could he? He had been thrown for a loop, literally. He had no sense of what was real and what wasn't anymore thanks to, whatever they had just gone through. His logical brain seemed to be having a meltdown at the moment, and he couldn't think or say anything.

"Here you are dearies!" they heard a scratchy voice call. The Junk lady came in handing them trinkets and toys; all having been lost at some point or another, okay so they were still wherever they were; be it awake or asleep.

This continued for quite some time. The junk lady would come bustling back and forth bringing them more and more things until the room was filled up to their ankles. It was only when the woman brought in a teapot that they remembered what they were supposed to be doing.

"Mai, we need to save Mai!" Masako exclaimed.

"Yes, sorry to seem rude, but we need to go." John told the old hag.

"Going so soon? Alright well, scram!" she reverted back to crotchety.

Masako and John exited the replicated room quickly, Naru made to follow him when a flash of light caught his eye.

"Are you wearing jewelry?" he asked the woman.

She smiled proudly, the sweetness returning once more. "Yep, ain't it beautiful? I found it in one of the deepest piles at the far edge of the fields." She said holding up a small red pendant which had been crudely stung on an old leather shoe lace. "I swear, it must have magic in it; sometimes when I hold it it pulses in my hand."

Pulses, magic. Of course!

"May I borrow that?" Naru asked. "I can promise you something even better in return."

"Ye _can_?" the junk woman sounded impressed. "Alright, but I expect my new treasure no later than tamorrow." Reaching behind her she untied the string and deposited the jewel in Naru's outstretched hand. "Now off with ya! Ye said ya had stuffs t'do."

"Thank you." Naru replied slipping the pendant into his pocket and running off to join the others.

On the outer edge of the field they met back up with Hoggle, Didymus, and Ludo.

"What's this?" they asked, looking at a long walled corridor which seemed to lead straight to the gates of the goblin city.

"Can't says I rightly knows." Hoggle replied. "Wasn't heres last times I did this."

"Nor I," Didymus agreed. "this was most verily not here when last I journeyed to fair city."

"Well, I suppose there's only one way to find out what it is." Masako said after a moment of deliberation.

"Hows?" Hoggle asked.

"Simple, we go in." the medium replied, walking through the entry into the stone hall.

While walking through the group heard voices, whispers, echoes of something probably long forgotten except for here; but still, where was here?

"What is this place?" John breathed.

"Whatever you think it is." A voice called from far ahead. They looked to see a figure with long dark hair walking ahead of them, quaintly strolling along.

"Maybe they know what this place is." Masako said hopefully, running to catch up with the figure. The others ran after her.

No matter how fast they ran, the figure's headway seemed to grow more and more vast until they were out of sight completely. And it was then the walls on both sides of them started to shimmer. It was like projecting an image on a whiteboard, something which had already happened or was captured and displayed for all to safely view.

_In a great ballroom there stood a figure. A young girl, no older than fourteen fitted for a royal ball. A dress sugar-spun out of moonbeams and magic, paired with a wreath of twining silver leaves wound through locks the color of dark chocolate curled in little ringlets. Intricate jewelry lay snugly on the lobes of her ears and in the hollow of her throat._

_There were people dancing everywhere, donning grotesque Venetian masks to conceal their identities. They laughed and chased one another. The girl was too naïve to see the true intent of this gala. This was a very adult situation and she was greatly out of place; emphasized by the pure coloring of her clothing, while everyone else's was tainted with color. The girl found herself looking for someone, who it was she did not know. At last, she saw a tall regal looking man hiding behind a demon's mask held up by a thin, twiny handle. He slowly lowered it to reveal his face._

"The Goblin King." Masako whispered.

_The girl was mesmerized; a blank, dreamy look evident in her features as she blatantly stared open-mouthed at him. A couple whirled past, and he had vanished into the crowd. She slowly made her way through the opulent, sphere shaped room; looking for the man. She couldn't remember why or how, but he was familiar; and he seemed a lot safer than anyone else here with her._

_Unbeknownst to her, the target of quest had appeared several times whilst she was not looking, though he always kept his eyes on her even when interacting with his guests. The girl wandered, forgetting everything except locating him; even though she knew she should probably be doing something else, she couldn't find the fire and fight to care._

_At last she found him again; even though flanked by two women more mature and in all likelihood more beautiful than her, staring right into her gaze, into her soul. Slowly, he disentangled himself from their twining grasp and moved toward her; bowing slightly and offering her his hand. She took it, and they waltzed through the room. He murmured to her, lyrics of a song she had never heard before. Words that spoke of love and romance and all the things she thought she knew and understood. But being here and now, dancing with this man, she realized just how childish all her notions before had truly been. As the song drew to a close she felt his arm tighten about her waist and pull her ever so slightly closer. She stared straight into his eyes; the picture of innocence in a room full of sinners. His gaze bore into her and the girl felt her heart rate speed up, was he going to kiss her? Was she more afraid that he _would_, or that he _wouldn't_? _

_It was then she heard laughter, the rest of the ballroom's occupants were blatantly staring at them, and finding the whole charade inexplicably amusing. She quaked, feeling nervous and uncertain and uncomfortable and a million other things even while he held her tightly in his arms. He, of course, paid no attention to the crowd, but she did. As they whirled, she noticed a gilt clock in the corner of the room. It had thirteen hours decorating its face, and the hour hand was on the twelve whilst the minute hand was on the thirteen. She was running out of time, of that much she was certain, even though she didn't know what was running out of time for. All the girl knew was that she had to get out of there, right now. She broke away from his arms and forced her way through the crowd. They pulled and tugged at her, trying to urge her to stay but to no avail. She reached a silvery membrane like wall and saw a decorative chair right next to it. Grabbing it by the back she swung it at the wall. It shattered into stardust and she was sucked through the void._

"What was that?" Masako asked as they neared the end of the hallway.

"I don't knows," Hoggle replied. "but since it had somethin's ta do with that rat Jareth, I can assures ya it wasn't goods."

Coming out to the gates near to the goblin city they saw a small sign which would have been helpful at the _other_ end of the corridor. _Memory Lane_ was inscribed on the weathered wood.

"So they were memories?" John asked to no one in particular.

"S'pose so's." Hoggle answered. "Heres we are; gates to the goblins city."

"Alright, we need to get through the goblin city and infiltrate the castle. Any ideas?" Naru asked.

"My lord, brothers Ludo, Hoggle and I will cause a distraction to allow you entry into the castle. Find the fair maiden and escape while his majesty is distracted." Didymus offered.

"Any objections?" Naru asked the other two.

"Kazuya, why not directly approach the king?" John asked.

"How so?" Hoggle replied.

"Well, the Goblin King knows that Hoggle is helping us, but Ludo and Sir Didymus haven't been seen with us by him. Maybe they could lead us into the city as prisoners and we could get into the castle that way." The Australian priest reasoned.

"That's a good idea, but the only problem is that prisoners are usually led in bound." Masako said. "We don't have any ropes or anything to be 'bound' with so they'd see through it in a second."

"Actually, I don't think the other subjects living here would be smart enough to notice." Naru replied.  
"As long as we keep out wrists close together we could be taken for bound prisoners."

"Nots only thats." Hoggle cut in. "Buts most a them goblins is always in Jareth's throne room gettin' s'drunks they can. Those'n the streets is the same ways."

"Very well, let's go." Naru said, taking charge of the situation as he would back Above.

* * *

Hoggle was right; by keeping their hands clasped together and their heads cast down with their eyes glancing upward meekly they created the illusion of being the prisoners of the bridge knight. They passed through the streets without problem and were allowed entry.

"And what have we here?" the Goblin King asked mockingly as the runners were led into the throne room. "Could it be my Labyrinth proved too difficult for you?"

"Hardly," Masako retorted.

"Yes, hardly…" Jareth was still amused it seemed. "But may I ask why you felt it necessary to feign imprisonment at the hands of Didymus? After all, I wasn't trying to stop you from reaching my castle."

"Then what was with the Cleaners?" Masako accused. "That machine tried to kill us!"

"The Cleaners were scheduled to run through the tunnel you were in at the time you were in it; it's not my fault you were down there. The crystal I threw had nothing to do with them, it was just for effect." The Goblin King replied. "As much as you would love not to believe it, the Labyrinth isn't designed to be an instrument of torture and murder; you were never in any life-threatening danger at any time."

"And the siren?" John added.

"A siren? In the Labyrinth?" the Goblin King looked at a loss for a moment before his haughty indifference took over again. "I don't have sirens in the Labyrinth for that reason. If there's one there I'll have to find and kill it myself."

"John already took care of it." Masako replied. "But what about the-"

"At any rate," Naru cut in. "we reached the castle before the thirteen hours were up." He gestured to the clock. "We won, now you need to give Mai back to us."

The King raised a brow at the teenager. "Oh really?" he asked, humor still evident. "Is that what you believe?"

"He's right." Masako argued. "We solved the Labyrinth, we beat you. Now you have to give Mai back to us."

"Hate to be the bearer of bad tidings but you never beat me. You reached the center of the Labyrinth, but if I recall correctly I said you had to _solve_ it. And what part of the Labyrinth have you solved?" Jareth asked.

"What do you mean solve?" Masako asked.

"At every turn you took, there was a lesson to be learned was there not?" he replied. "In order to solve the Labyrinth you had to use those lessons. And all I saw was deceit, bribery, and trickery. Now I'm not saying I'm disappointed in your performance, on the contrary; I'm proud you resorted to tactics I myself would have used but the Labyrinth on the other hand, well she's not as forgiving of the use of, how is it you mortals say? 'Finding a loophole'. Such a pity, but then again it's much more entertaining."

"She?" John asked.

"Regardless," Jareth continued. "I was not beaten by you since I had not challenged you. I gave you the opportunity to learn a lesson and you did. And since you did reach the castle I believe I'll be generous and give you what I offered you." He conjured a crystal and tossed it to them, letting Naru catch it in his hands.

"What's this for?" Masako asked, turning from the orb to the King and back.

"Your reward of course." The Goblin King replied. "It's what I offered you; you have won your freedom."

"No, we ran the Labyrinth to get Mai back." The medium protested.

"I never offered you the girl-child as a reward for running the Labyrinth. I said that should you fail there would be an extended stay in my kingdom."

"I thought that applied to Mai." John confessed.

"I'm sure you all did, on the contrary however; it applied to you three. And I believe you've won your freedom." Jareth told them. "So, you'd best be off then."

"But what about Mai?" Naru demanded.

The monarch's lips curled into a smirk. "You wish to see her before you leave? Well I suppose that can be arranged." He stood from his sprawled position atop his throne and moved to the side. Mai was now curled up against the back, still sleeping soundly.

"Mai!" the three called. She didn't stir.

"What have you done to her?" Naru growled.

"Nothing, she fell faint when my goblins came and has slept until now. I give you my word that I have not harmed nor disturbed a hair on her head." Jareth replied.

There came a whimpered groan from the girl on the throne. Stretching much like a cat would after a nap Mai slowly woke and rubbed her eyes blearily, yawning all the while.

"Mai!" John called.

"Hm?" she said, still half-asleep. She looked around and her eyes finally focused. "John, Masako, Naru? What are you guys doing here?"

"We're here to rescue you." John explained.

"Rescue me?" Mai blinked owlishly for a moment and looked around the room. "What do I need rescuing from?"

"Are you serious?" Masako asked. "Look around you! We're in the throne room of a castle in an entirely different world, you were kidnapped by a Fae king, and right now we're surrounded by goblins with weapons! How can you ask a question like that?"

"Huh," Mai said, starting to giggle a little. "I really would have thought you guys would have learned something about asking the right questions by now."

What?

"Anyways," Mai continued. "like I said before; what do I need rescuing from? They won't hurt me."

"How do you know?" Naru asked her.

"There's a severe penalty for attacking royalty." Mai replied nonchalantly. "Especially if the royalty is of your own kingdom. Isn't that right, Dad?" she asked looking towards the Goblin King.

"Dad!?" the others cried.

"Quite right my girl." Jareth replied, slinging an arm over her shoulder from his position behind the chair.

"Wait a minute Mai, the Goblin King is your father?" John managed to choke out.

"Biologically speaking; no. But he is my father." Mai answered.

"How can it be yes and no? You said the same thing twice with two different answers." Masako said.

"Well, when I came to the Underground to stay as a resident; mom and dad really liked me. And since I was still kind of a child they decided to adopt me. Thus, I am their child in everything but blood. And since I don't remember much about my birth parents I consider them my parents."

"How did they adopt you? How did you even get here?" well, they did say curiosity could kill you, but at this point none of them knew how much worse it could get.

"Goblin Kingdom, anything goes." Mai explained.

"And how long have you been part of this family?" at this point, it didn't really matter who asked what question since they all wanted to know anyways.

"Well, I believe it's been six years." Mai said thinking back on it.

"You would have been ten years old then, I thought you said you were orphaned in middle school." Naru calculated.

"Oh, my bad; I forgot you don't know these things. Time moves more slowly down here when my dad isn't reordering it." she said shooting a mock glare at the Fae king. "One hour down here is about a half hour up there. So by Aboveground standards I have been Princess of the Goblin Kingdom for about three years." Mai replied.

"Thirteen, how humorous." Masako rolled her eyes.

"No, I turned sixteen last July. And it's only May up there." Mai reminded them.

"You were twelve." John concluded.

"Seven years to the day I made the deal." Mai replied.

"Seven years… _You_ were the girl we heard about?" they asked.

"Where did you hear about me?" she asked.

"In the hedge maze, a girl who looked a lot like you told us that story. But that means story about the teacher you told us at the case in the mansion-"

"A slight ruse on our part. Whenever I have to have people over Aboveground before I got the job at SPR my mom would act as a teacher that I lived with and my 'foster parent'; saved me a heck of a lot of trouble when it came to adoption issues."

"Who is your mom anyways?"

Mai grinned, showing off canines slightly larger than normal. "The Lady of the Labyrinth of course. Mom! Can you come here a second?" she called.

"Coming Mai! And I'm bringing the page with me." A woman's voice called back.

"Ooohhh!" Mai said grinning. "Guess you're in for a surprise."

"What kind of surprise?"

Mai simply put a finger to her lips and gave them an I'm-not-telling grin.

"Please, I think we've all had enough of surprises for right now." John said.

"I agree," Masako chimed in. "I nearly had a heart attack when I thought it was you we found in the hedge maze."

"You met her?" Mai asked in surprise.

"Yes, but she said she looked like you because we imagined her to look so." Naru answered.

Mai laughed. "Sounds just like her to say something like that."

"You know her?"

Rather than responding Mai closed her eyes in concentration. Over from the corner of the room they heard a giggle. The three runners looked to see Magi smiling and waving at them, only; she looked transparent, like a spirit.

"Magi?" they asked, completely flabbergasted.

Magi tittered again and pointed back to Mai. They looked and saw the pixie-haired brunette open her eyes. When they looked back to Magi, she was gone.

"I don't understand…" Masako said lamely, completely defeated.

"Magi, as she told you to call her, is a visual manifestation of the Labyrinth." Mai explained. "She looks like me because she takes on different forms so others will have an easier time accepting her. It's kind of like those world-wide sightings of the Virgin Mary in Christianity. Each time she shows up in a specific region; she looks how that culture perceives her to look, speaks the same language, and even goes by the name they have for her. For some reason she has this insane notion that when I get old enough I'm going to become her body for her. She even goes so far as to use me as an instrument of her magic, boosting my own abilities. But I have to admit it can be really quite useful, especially on cases."

"What do you mean?" Masako asked.

"She means that her abilities can connect with spirits, right Mai?" Naru explained.

"Not exactly. Connecting with spirits is something I can do on my own. It's just amplified thanks to the amount of time spent here at home as well as the few times where Magi uses me to perform magic. It also helps that spirits run on a wavelength similar to the one magic uses."

"So your powers come from the magic here?" John asked.

"In a way, I guess so..." Mai replied, looking as though she'd never really thought about it that way, if at all.

"Is there anything else you can do?"

"Of course, with Magi's help that is. Where do you think the lipstick and ring came from?" she asked.

"That was you?" Masako was incredulous.

"Both of us," Mai corrected without sounding conceited. "I don't think you'd ever be one to wear devil red lipstick. And I seriously doubt Naru would carry around a plastic ring in his pocket." Mai replied, a smug grin in place. "With Magi's help I can conjure things from the junkyard and put them places. After all, all lost things eventually find their way to the Underground."

"Well, what about the cross?" John pressed.

"Oh _that_." Mai said as though something dawned on her. "That we were able to create from the strength in your faith. Believing has great power down here you know."

"Mai, Jareth. We're here." They heard the voice again. And they turned to see a woman dressed in a soft amethyst colored sundress with long hair the color of dark chocolate and jade colored eyes which seemed as though could be very intimidating when angered or spurned, though they were warm with love and affection now. And behind her…

"Gene?" Naru asked in disbelief.

Gene smiled. "It's been a while hasn't it Noll?" he asked.

"But, I saw you die." Naru was speechless.

"Actually, that's partly dad's fault." Mai cut in sheepishly. "Nice to see you again Gene."

"You too princess." Gene replied bowing. Mai pinked.

"I hate it when you do that." She muttered. Gene chuckled.

"Kazuya, who's this?" John asked, unsure of why there were two identical people in the room.

"My twin brother, Eugene." Naru replied. "I thought he had died two years ago when he came to Japan. That's why I came; I've been looking for his body."

"Yes, and you would have looked all over for it without ever succeeding." Masako added.

"Wait, you knew Ms. Hara?" John turned to the medium having noticed she wasn't shocked by seeing two of their colleague.

"I did." She said a little guiltily.

"So did I," Mai chimed in. "Gene told me after that case with the driftwood god; when you were out of the hospital."

"Wait, you knew my brother was alive?"

Mai nodded. "Well, not for very long, but yes."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You never asked. I don't have the ability to read people's minds you know. Even if I did, how many times would you have been thinking about him while I had the opportunity to talk to you about it?" Mai scolded him. "Besides, I couldn't have told you anything. I'm not allowed to divulge the secrets of magic to mortals; especially ones who don't believe." She added, looking down at the stone floors. "Anyways, everyone; this is my mom Sarah Williams, otherwise known as Lady or Champion of the Labyrinth."

"The _sole_ champion of my Labyrinth." Jareth added. "As well as my wife and queen."

"Like that's the only reason she's your wife." Mai scoffed. "'And what no one knew was that the King of the Goblins had fallen in love with the girl'. Remember?"

"Ah yes, the only part of the story that moronic book actually got right." Jareth conceded.

"Getting back to the matter at hand. Why are you down here Gene?" Naru asked his brother.

"You mean you don't remember? That's alright, I had forgotten too until I was brought down here." Gene replied. "When we were really little, back in the orphanage; we had gotten into a fight. And then we had both wished each other away. The King came to take us, but we begged him not to until we had gotten a chance to have a family. So he made a deal with us; should there come a time where one or both of our lives were in danger he would come and take us to the Underground, and we would stay there as his subjects."

"So the accident…"

"No, that was all a bit fabricated. I was in _danger_ of being hit by the woman in the car, but his Majesty saved me and replaced me with a fake. I was taken to the castle where I became a page boy. I cannot return to the Above because I am bound by the deal, but I can communicate with Mai through her dreams and help you solve cases little brother. In that way, I still see you." Gene explained.

"But how can you talk with Mai?"

"His powers and the magic of the Underground." Jareth explained. "Magic can feed the abilities with those who let their spark breathe and grow. That's all the mortal-named 'psychic powers' really are; nurtured magic."

"It's true." Mai added. "Dad told me that all mortals are born with a spark of magic in them. If it's allowed to breathe and grow you can do certain things most people can't. Religions are a part of magic as well; the power of faith is like a magic all its own."

Gene nodded. "She's right. But getting back to the point, it's alright if I can't ever leave. I enjoy working here in the castle."

"I like him working here too." Mai chimed in once more. "It's nice to have a human friend down here; especially since he can tell me all sorts of embarrassing stories about you." She laughed.

Naru felt a sharp pain in his chest. He didn't reply but felt his whole body go rigid.

Mai smiled from behind her hand. "Aww, are you jealous?" she asked. "How cute!"

Again, Naru didn't respond.

"I gotta say; your brother could pass for a true blue-blood. The manners he has. However," Mai said getting up from the throne and strolling over to them. "I must admit that I suffer from the same affliction as my mother. I've always preferred the villain. Especially since the ones I know always have a hidden sweet side. Though, you aren't really a villain in the traditional sense, more of an antagonist don't you think?" She finished stopping in front of him, a little too close for normal comfort.

Naru looked down at the girl in front of him, suddenly unable to breathe normally. "Mai," he said, all he could say.

She looked up at him from under her lashes and she smiled somewhat impishly. "Don't even try to warn me Naru. I know just what you are capable of without the safety of your brother. But I think you already know how much of a penchant I have for danger, don't you? Oh, and there is just one more thing." She said reaching into the pocket of his jacket. "Thanks for finding this for us." She said pulling out the red shard.

"Is that..?" Sarah trailed off, completely hypnotized by what Mai held in her hand.

"I do believe it is." Jareth said. "The final piece of my heart, I cast this away ages ago. Wherever did you find this?"

"The Junk lady told me she'd found it in one of the deepest piles at the farthest edge of the fields. You really should compensate her for that you know." Naru replied.

The Goblin King walked over and took the shard from Mai. He placed it against his chest and it dissolved back into his body. "I think I will," he looked at his queen casually lounging on his throne, giving him a meaningful glance. "Later, I believe. Much, much later." He said sending Sarah his feral grin. She blushed, but held his gaze.

Mai and Gene laughed while everyone else, save the drunken goblins, looked really uncomfortable. "I told you they were equals in everything didn't I?"

"Yes but, don't you think that's a bit much when you have company?" John replied.

Mai laughed again. "Believe me, this is tame for them. I've seen much, much worse while I've lived here. And personally, I think they've been this way from the beginning. Ah, but I suppose that story is one we can save for another time. Speaking of time, I believe it's time you return."

"Return?"

"Back Above." Mai clarified.

"But, won't it have been a new day when we return?" John asked.

"No, I'll have dad reorder time. Don't worry about a thing, it'll all be fine." Mai soothed. "By the way, I saw what happened with the siren. Very brave of you John; almost like a knight fighting for the protection of his fair princess. Don't you think so Gene?"

Gene nodded. Masako and John flushed cherry red and couldn't meet the other's eyes.

"I'm happy for you; you guys make a cute couple. But we can discuss it later," Mai turned back to Naru. "You should get them home."

"What do I need to do?"

"Give me the crystal." Mai told him.

He outstretched his hand and let the crystal roll off his fingers to Mai's hand. She retracted it at the last moment and brought it to her nose. It fell to the floor, and shattered. Naru started becoming dizzy and his vision was swimming; the last thing he consciously saw was Mai and Gene waving at him. The world went black, and he felt himself falling.

* * *

"..ru? Naru? Naru!" he opened his eyes, Mai was worriedly looking at him from above.

"What, happened?" he asked slowly, feeling the beginnings of a massive headache coming on.

"When that storm hit it caused a power outage in the complex." Mai explained. "I kinda freaked out at the suddenness of it and ran to the kitchen to find flashlights. When I came back something weird must've happened because you all fell asleep. You and Lin were on the floor, I got so worried. You've been out for a couple of hours, any longer and I would have had to call the hospital."

Naru slowly looked down from where his neck had been resting against the back of the chair Mai had moved him in. he saw she had moved him into the chair facing the door, so he could see everyone else just coming to as well.

"Uh, what happened?" Monk groaned. "I feel like I was hit with a bag full of cinderblocks."

"Me too." Ayako agreed.

"I wish I could tell you, but by the time I came back you were all unconscious." Mai replied.

"What time is it?" Naru turned to ask Mai, who had moved in behind the chair and in front of the window itself.

Mai glanced at the clock. "Uh, five." She said.

"Well, I think we've had enough excitement for one day. You can all go home." Naru said getting up and returning to his office. Lin doing the same a few seconds afterward.

"Mai?" Masako asked somewhat hesitantly. "Oh, good; you're still here." She let out a relieved sigh.

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?" Mai asked in reply.

Masako dismissed it with a wave of her hand. "Nothing, just a bad dream I guess."

"Okay, must have been some dream then." Mai said; a little confused about Mai was so relieved. "Any idea what caused it?"

"Let's just say that book of yours put me off fairy-tales forever." Masako stood. "John," she said a little shyly. "Could you please escort me home?"

"Sure thing Ms. Hara." John replied; standing and offering her his arm.

Mai watched them go. "The book isn't _that_ nightmare inducing." She said to herself. Wait a minute; she looked up at the two of them. "When did they get together?" she asked the rest in the room after they were gone. They all shrugged in response.

Everyone else cleared out slowly, muscles tense and sore from staying in one position for far too long.

"Hey Mai?" Monk asked. "Ayako, Yasu, and I are all gonna hit the movies. You coming?"

Mai blinked. "Oh, no thank you. I'm gonna go home for the night. See you guys tomorrow." She said watching them walk out the door. When they were gone and the doors were all closed she turned to watch the start of sunset out the vista of the great window. A muffled sound caught her attention.

There, perched on the flagpole, was a snow-white barn owl. It tipped its head coquettishly at her and gazed at her with a keen interest. Mai stared back before glancing at both office doors from behind half-lidded eyes before returning to the predatory avian; feeling that secretive smile slowly stretch across her face gaining impish and mischievous intent. She nodded her head at it, motioning toward the door. The bird bobbed its head and flew off.

Mai glanced at the two offices in their space once more before walking to her desk and picking up her book and depositing it inside her bag, also placed on the tabletop. Calmly she made sure everything of hers was in order before slinging the carrier over her left shoulder and walking out the door herself, bidding both Naru and Lin goodnight behind her. Turning from softly closing the door she saw the barn owl perched on the balcony railing. She smiled and ruffled the feathers on the top of its head a little before bounding down the steps and jogging off to the park they had cleansed only last November. Once reaching the entrance Mai stopped to catch her breath only for the owl to fly on ahead of her.

"You don't ever play fair, do you?" she asked under her breath before racing to catch up. She did not feel cold, even with the chill of the evening setting in combined with the wind she was creating on top of the fact that she had chosen to wear a pair of jean shorts and a two-tone blue cami-blouse shirt to work that day.

Mai followed the owl into a thickly wooded area of the park. She didn't relent or slow down her pace for even a second. On and on she kept running until she at last came out on top of a windswept hill filled with tall, yellowed grass. Quickly she made her way down the other side and stopped as a legion of creatures were there waiting for her. They got down to their knees and pressed their faces to the dirt.

Mai's eyes widened and her whole face lit up; eyes sparkling with excitement, a wide grin stretching its way across her face showing off fang-like canines. Her left hand tightened on the strap of the bag which held her precious book while the right hand caught the chain of a necklace which had not previously been there resting in the hollow of her throat as the creatures all chorused. "Welcome home your majesty…"

* * *

Okay, before all my Labyrinth fans freak out: there has been a manga sequel to Labyrinth which I borrowed elements from along with things I made up myself to put into the story and make it more interesting. There would really be no point in writing this if I had them follow Sarah's journey to a T right?

Also, congratulations to those of you reading this. It means that you have made your way through fifty-something pages of microsoft word and over 20,000 words of plot. You ought to be compensated for the strain you put on your eyes, but alas; I have nothing to offer you. All I can ask is that my lovely readers review this.


	2. Chapter 2: side story

Hey everyone! sorry it's been so long since I did anything but I've been really busy. Okay, so here's the deal; I realized that in Within Stone walls I talked about the little girl running the Labyrinth right? Well it was Wednesday night when I realized that I should probably tell that story too. I started then and finished late last night so I didn't post then. For all you guys who enjoyed the original story I think you'll like this one too.

Edit: 7/28/13: so I added a few more things to this story because I felt it necessary to give you all a little more than the she goes in, wins, and that's the end of it. So here you all go. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt or Labyrinth, though that WOULD be insanely amazing.

* * *

"Get in there and stay in there!" the female had shrieked as she pushed the little girl into her bedroom and placed a chair under the knob to keep it shut. "You are such a _freak_! It's no wonder your daddy went and got himself killed, probably to get away from you!" and with that end of the rant, the older girl stalked off; her footsteps echoing on the hardwood floor behind her.

Inside the bedroom the little girl sighed, just like usual no matter what she did she got in trouble. And then there were the rules of her, her, oh that's right. The woman she lived with told her never to use _that_ title as a reference, she didn't have a mother; she had a caretaker, that's what the woman said she was called. Anyways, she couldn't go out, she couldn't leave the apartment except for going to school; she couldn't even have friends; well, not any _tangible_ ones at least. She had plenty of friends who existed in her mind, but she couldn't tell any of the people she talked to about them. They would never understand; all they would do was yell at her and shove her in this room again. True, it was where she lived and spent a majority of her time, but then again; it wasn't a home. Rather, she had vague memories of a place that was always warm and happy; where she _felt_ happy. And most importantly; where she had the undeniable knowledge that she was loved. There was none of that here. There was only coldness, well there was whenever anyone bothered to notice or even acknowledge her existence that is.

Case in point; there was an unexpected summer storm tonight. Outside, it was raging; the thunder shattering the sky and the lightening setting the fragments aflame. She did not like thunderstorms; she was scared of them. And this storm promised to waste away the night; it was alright when she had her nightlight with her, but the power had been knocked out and all there had been was a room plunged into darkness like it was now; and in this room there was a small balcony with intricate French doors and great windows spanning nearly floor to ceiling. Even with the curtains drawn she could see the twisted limbs of gnarled tree branches shaking; clawing at the glass, wanting to get in and seek shelter from the storm. Though her imagination was often a pastime she never tired of, it was occasionally too overactive for her -or any other five year old's own good. It flared up at the most inconvenient times; which was how she had found herself in this predicament after the lights had gone out. Startled, and frightened beyond all comprehensible belief she had lunged for the leg of the sitter. In response she had been pried off and shoved in here while the older girl locked the door behind her. She had no way of escape, and those awful creatures of the night were laughing at her, taunting her with their whispered promises.

"_We're going to get you."_ They hissed with malicious glee. _"We're going to get inside and take you. And when we do, we'll show you why little girls like yourself __**should**__ be afraid of the dark!"_ they cackled, their laughter rhythmic with the roars of thunder that lurked just beyond the thin glass barrier.

Startled, but like all children she suffered from reckless curiosity, she moved towards the lacy black curtains and hesitantly lifted one of the edges of the paper blind that lay beneath them. Timidly she peered around it only to see a horribly grotesque, misshapen face leering back at her; cruel, jagged fangs glinting at her from the creature's grin.

She fell back; _it's just my imagination_ she told herself as she continuously staggered in reverse. It did nothing to soothe her though because she started seeing the faces everywhere in her room. Hiding behind furniture, creeping in the shadows, scratching as they shuffled along the hardwood floor as the thunder from the storm outside seemed to dull until it was barely audible over the frantic beating of her tiny little heart. Every time the lightening flashed a new face would appear. But all were menacing, and the girl kept backing away until she met the surface of the locked door behind her. There truly was no escape.

Slumping until she reached a huddled sitting position on the floor the girl curled up into herself and cried. The sobs wracked her small frame as she let out her anguish in silence. She knew better than to give voice to her sorrows; not only would no one come to aid her, it was far worse than that. She would be reprimanded, chastised for _daring_ to have sorrows and grievances while there were many more in the world worse off than she. Sometimes, on the rare occasion when her moth- caretaker came home; fully inebriated and surprised that the child was still alive she would seem nice. And then the girl would feel it safe to pour out all her woes. She had only done it twice however, as both times after the woman she lived with had grown positively livid and started trying to claw at her with her finely manicured nails.

When her crying had ceased, she looked up to see that though the storm still ravaged the world outside, there were no menacing creatures to spirit her away inside her room. It really _had_ all been her imagination. The girl shook her head, sighing at how silly she could be sometimes. The thunder clapped violently and she quaked. Distraction. She needed a distraction to divert her attention from her fear. And she knew just the one.

Quickly making her way to the nightstand by her bed the girl pulled out a flashlight. Clicking it on, she reached under the pillows at the head of her mattress and pulled out a battered little book. It was bound with a red leather cover, and had the title embossed in gold with a gothic script. _Labyrinth_.

She loved the story, but hated the ending. Maybe it was just her own opinion, but she felt sorry for the Goblin King. All he had ever done was what his love had asked of him. And in the end the girl banished him from her life forever. Flipping to the last page she frowned at the abrupt ending, though she had read it many times. She read the last lines over again, searching for a hidden meaning. It was as static as always; the ending being that of the Goblin King returning home after viewing the celebration of the Champion's victory inside her room. No finesse, no concluding phrases, not even the clichéd, gauche, and overused words 'The End'. The script just ran to the end of the page and, and, _stopped_.

She loved this book, had had it for as long as she could remember. And though she'd never admit it to anyone in her life, the girl knew her best friends were the characters in that book. She could picture them all with such vivid clarity; amazing considering the book had no pictures to speak of. They always made her feel safe no matter what happened. She really did wish they were real.

One of the few memories she had of the time before she came here was of someone reading this very story to her; he had just finished the book, and she had just aloud wished that the story was real. The man had smiled down at her and told her that a story was only as real as you believed it to be, and that if you did believe then there was nothing saying it wasn't real. She remembered wishing she could visit the Underground; the man had laughed and said that if she believed hard enough, long enough, she would eventually find her way there.

Running her fingers over the cover once more the girl sighed; maybe it would take longer for her to find her way. She was only five years old after all, it would probably take longer. After all, the girl in the story was fifteen when she found her way Underground, so logic would dictate that she just needed to be patient.

Placing the book on the corner of the nightstand the girl got up to wander around the rather spacious room with her flashlight, a game she played on restless nights when her imagination proved too much for her to bear any longer. Slowly, she would creep around the room on tiptoe, and when she came upon a certain corner of the room she would flick the lantern on; chasing away the shadows of the night. Tonight, however, it was not only supposed to tame her fancies; it was also to help keep her mind off the storm. It proved fruitless when the thunder gave a particularly vicious roar; rattling the windows and doors, and knocking things out of their places with its force.

The girl heard a thud behind her and turned; flashlight aimed. It seemed as though the thunder had also knocked down her book; which lay open on its spine to one of the pages in the beginning of the story. She had just knelt down to pick it up when she heard the footsteps from the hall.

"Hey brat!" the babysitter called. "I have your slop for ya! I managed to be able to heat up one of those microwave dinners; your favorite."

The girl frowned. She hated those microwave dinners with a burning passion. Ah, but when did anyone ever pay attention to her? But she stayed silent, knowing how much good speaking would do.

"Also," the sitter added. "I called the boss; and she said that since I'm in charge I can do whatever I like 'til she gets home. Hope you didn't have any plans since you're staying in there all night long…" she said in a singsong voice.

The girl silently fumed; she wanted to scream and fight back, but instead she resumed picking up her book. The flashlight shone on the script; it was the part where the girl in the story wished her brother away by saying her _right words_. The girl gazed at the story, and then back at the closed door where the sitter was laughing from behind it. Turning back to the story once more an idea struck her. It's not as if she would be hurting anyone; it wouldn't really work.

With that thought in mind the girl clicked the lock on her side of the door, so the sitter couldn't come in attempting to disrupt her with some arbitrary punishment and returned to the book. On a quiet, breathless whisper she said;

"I wish the goblins would come and take you away, right now."

There, nothing happened. It was all fine, and the girl felt much better now that her anger and frustration had been dealt with. However, the sitter seemed enraged by her charge's lack of response and started jiggling the door handle to try and get in.

"Hey! Brat!" she yelled banging on the door. "Let me in right now or I'll-" she cut herself off as the storm grew increasingly devastating. From what the little girl could hear things started thumping against the walls. Oddly, she didn't feel as afraid as she had before, though the same couldn't be said for the sitter. "I mean it kid, stop this right now! If this is some kind of prank you're really gonna get it!" she was trying for intimidating, but the little girl no longer felt fearful.

Eventually the sitter's threats and yells stopped altogether. Curious as to why the little girl unlocked her door; the sitter had vanished.

It was then she heard noises from behind her. Whirling around the door slammed shut behind her, and the balcony doors flew open. Something flew in, around, and out. And then, there was a shadow looming against the moon. The shadow of a man.

The little girl's gaze shifted from his silhouette on the floor to the figure himself; her cinnamon colored eyes already abnormally large for a child grew wide with fright. Her breath caught, and she felt as though she were a statue; unable to move no matter how hard she tried.

To be honest; this man didn't frighten her, though his sudden arrival certainly had. He was odd-looking, but his demeanor made her feel as if _she_ were the one out of place here; not him. What she found most interesting about him were his eyes; one blue, one brown. He stood there tall and proud, looking at her almost expectantly.

The girl's gaze darted to the floor, wanting to look at any and everything but him. Out the corner of her eye something caught her attention. Her book, the sudden wind had blown it shut; and the gilt title shone in the pale light. Something clicked, and she gazed at him again; with complete and utter awe.

"You're him," she whispered. "You're him aren't you? The Goblin King?"

He gave a little half-smile at her and cocked his head slightly, and she stood still a moment more. He was caught off guard when she lunged forward and wrapped her arms around him. Well, actually, she was only about as high as his knee, so she was hugging one of his legs.

"I can't believe it," she gasped. "I _knew_ you were real. I just _knew_ it!" she whispered against him before letting go and stepping back. "But what are you doing here?" she asked.

"I've brought you, a gift." He said flicking his wrist and drawing a glass orb out of thin air.

"What is it?" she asked, mesmerized as he started to manipulate the orb in his hands.

He looked at her. "It's a crystal," he replied. "nothing more. But if you turn it this way, and look into it; it will show you your dreams. But this is not a gift for a screaming baby. Do you want it?"

The girl was silent a moment. "Why are you giving it to me?" she finally asked.

The King looked slightly taken aback. "Why, you ask? Why ask such a question?"

The girl thought for a moment. "I've been waiting to see you for ages. Been wanting to see you for ages an visit the Underground. Yet, only tonight have you visited me an proved you exist. On top of all that, you bring me a gift. No one ever gives me any presents. So what have I done to earn this gift?"

"You are surprisingly smart for a mortal girl. And one so young too." He observed.

"No one has ever given me a present because I'm a wicked little child who ruins people's lives. I don't deserve anything as nice as a present. So why are you giving me one?"

The Goblin King seemed confused. As he had followed the travels of his story he looked in occasionally on an owner who had a particularly strong belief in the vein of magic. She had been one of them and when he had looked in upon her before she had seemed happy. What had happened?

"Your majesty?" the girl had asked.

He shook his head. "I may as well answer your question; you have given me something in exchange, and so I gift you with this crystal."

"But I have nothing to give," the girl protested. "an even if I had I have never known how to send it to you." Something seemed to dawn on her. "When I said the words, I sent my babysitter away, didn't I? That's why you've brought me the crystal, isn't it?"

"Yes," the King replied, a little reluctantly. "and now I give you this crystal in exchange." He held it out for the girl to take.

"But, I can't take this!" She refuted.

"And why not?" this girl was very trying.

"Because," she paused, searching for the right way to explain how she felt but still only having the mind of a five-year old it proved more difficult than she expected. "Because, Babysitter isn't mine to give away." The girl explained, a little hesitantly as if she testing out the reasoning for the very first time. "She has a family, one who probably loves an cares for her. She might be mean to me a lot but I couldn't give her away like that. It's not right!"

"How very noble of you." the King remarked. "But why give up the chance for happiness if you've suffered for so long?" he asked, trying to tempt her with the crystal yet again.

"I do want my dreams come true; but not if I have to hurt someone else to get them." She replied. "I did mean what I said when I wished her away. But if anyone should be taken it should be me. I'm sorry, but I really can't have the crystal."

The King looked a little ruffled. "Do you care for the girl?"

"Not really. But I gotta get her back. I just gotta!"

"Very well." The King's expression grew melancholy. "Such a pity though." The crystal vanished from his hand and he moved to the balcony windows. "If you wish to rescue the girl you must run my Labyrinth."

"Where is she?" The little girl asked.

"In my castle, where all wished away stay if someone tries to reclaim them." He gestured through the open doors.

The girl stepped through them and found herself on a windswept hill with oddly tall, yet clearly long-dead yellowed grass. Tossing her head from side to side she faced the monarch of the Underground.

"Where am I?" she asked.

"Where do you think you are?" the Goblin King asked in reply.

The girl thought for a moment. "I'm in the Underground, aren't I?"

"You _are_ a quick wit aren't you?" He told her striding up until he towered over her because of their difference in age and size. "There," he said, pointing over her head.

The girl turned to see a great maze sprawling over the niche it rested in like an old man on a comfortable patchwork quilt.

"The Labyrinth?" she asked.

"Correct, in order to succeed and reclaim what you have lost you must reach the castle beyond the Goblin City." The King informed her. "However, I must warn you that it is filled with dangers untold and hardships unnumbered."

"Am I gonna die if I lose?" the girl asked.

"I'm not a murderer you know." The Goblin King replied. "But why ask such a thing?"

The girl shrugged. "I read a lot of fairytales" she offered as explanation. "Some of them I'm not supposed to read but I do anyways. I spend a lot of time at the library."

"Why?"

"I don't like going back to that house." The girl replied. "Well, if a fifteen year old can do it than so can I. It shouldn't be _that_ hard." She said, looking over the land again. "It doesn't even look that far."

"It is farther than you think; and time is short." He said, kneeling down behind her until they were both the same height. "I would turn back now if I were you, take my offer. But if you insist on running-"

"You know why." She interrupted as he stood from his haunches and walked backwards towards a twisted, gnarled, barren tree the color of a new moon which somehow had a wooden cuckoo clock growing off one of its branches with thirteen numbers painted o'er its face. "I have to run."

The Goblin King looked at her. "Very well then." If she really did insist. "You have thirteen hours in which to solve the Labyrinth or else the girl will become one of us forever. Such a pity you won't rethink this. Such a pity..." He said fading out of view.

"Well," The little girl rolled her eyes. "_That_ was helpful." She retorted to no one, looking again at the Labyrinth. "Well, I won't accomplish anything just standing here. Let's get going." She told her feet as they started making their way down the hill.

When she reached the entrance she saw a squat little man spraying pesticide on some kind of swarm.

"Hey!" she called.

"What?" asked the little man; stopping what he was doing.

"Why are you out here?" she asked. "I mean, you belong inside with the rest of them, right?"

"'S where I was puts." The little man replied.

"Oh, why?"

"Don't knows, don't wants to finds outs. Long's I'm 'way from that rat I don't care wheres I is."

"Oh, you must know the way in right? Will you tell me?" she said following along as he limped away.

"Ways in's rights behinds ya." The little man told her. "Nots likes you'll makes it very fars."

"Well, thank you anyways." The little girl replied. "What's your name?"

"Hoggle." The dwarf replied.

"What a nice name. But I better get going; bye-bye Hoggle." The little girl said giving him a hug before turning to the large ornate doors which seemed to pop out of nowhere and walking right through.

Hoggle watched the little girl go in and shook his head. "Playin' withs a sweet little innocents like hers. What're ya thinkin' Jareth?" he asked the sky as if it would answer his questions. It didn't and he got on with his work, muttering under his breath the entire time.

Inside, the little girl walked the outer wall of the Labyrinth; wondering where to go next and grateful that when she had originally come home from school that day she had immediately changed into her pajamas: a loose, three-quartered sleeved linen shirt with a pair of capris and house shoes to match, all in a pretty white color rimed with black lace and light enough to withstand the heat of this place. She easily stood out among the grungy gothic stone and crumbling walls around her, her long hair held back with a black and white lace headband. As she walked she kept a hand on the inner wall and gazed at the lichen who gazed right back at her. Without a gap in the stone she was at a bit of a loss. Just when she thought to pull away however, she felt an edge. An edge in the wall? No, an opening, an opening in the wall; that's what it was. Cleverly hidden unless you were looking right. The girl swung in and saw she had two paths to choose. Unable to decide while she was at her fork in the road she walked back out and slumped against the other wall.

"'Allo." Said a voice.

The little girl looked around to see a worm staring right at her. "Are you talking to me?" she asked, pointing at herself for emphasis.

"Course I am, ain't nobody else 'round is there?" he asked on a chuckle.

"I suppose not…" the little girl looked around. "I don't think you would know the way to the castle would you?"

"Who me? Naw, I'm just a worm." The worm replied shaking his head and an almost inaudible scoff.

"Well, maybe you could give me some help," the little girl told him getting up and walking through the chink in the wall once more. "See, there's two paths; but I don't know which one to choose. So should I go this way?" she said pointing to the right. "Or this way?" she repeated pointing left.

"T's your choice." The worm told her. "Can't have everybody deciding your life for you. S'not like me decidin' for you'll get you any closer to where you need to go."

The girl took a moment of pensiveness; thinking the worm's words over very carefully. "I guess you're right. I think I'll go left." She said starting off.

"Wait! Don't go that way!" she heard the worm call. The little girl backtracked until she saw him again.

"What?" she asked.

"I said; 'don't go that way'." The worm replied, inclining his head left. "_Never_ go that way." He warned.

"Oh." said the girl, walking back out and squatting to see the worm better. "Why not?" she asked.

"If you keep on goin' that way, you'd end up straight at that castle." The worm chided firmly.

"But that's where I want to go." The girl rebutted. "I need to get to the castle beyond the Goblin City. Why else would I be here?" she asked.

"Don't rightly know." Replied the worm. "But why ya need to go to that castle anyways?"

"I fix the mess I made." Was the girl's ambiguous reply. "I need to do it, an go back home. When my moth- when my caretaker find out both Sitter an I are gone she'll be really mad. I don't want her to-" She stopped, thinking about the horrors the woman who'd birthed her could cause when riled. Shaking her head and steeling her resolve the girl stood up. "So left leads to the castle, right?" The worm nodded. "Alright then. Well, bye-bye mister worm." She bid as she walked through the chink and turned the corner left.

As she walked she took a good long look at this place, the place she had longed to visit for as long as she could remember. She wanted to commit it to memory, since she was sure that after this she would never be allowed here again. It really _was_ a pity; already she felt more at home here than the six months she'd already spent at her moth- _caretaker's_ home. She didn't want to go back; well, not really anyways. She liked her school, even if she wasn't allowed to have friends, she liked her teacher and the things the kids were allowed to do. She liked the blue sky and green grass; down here everything beautiful seemed to have died long ago. And though it was beautiful in its own foreign, slightly sinister, and other-worldly right; she liked the world Above just fine. It was some of the _people_ of Above she just couldn't stand.

The little girl stopped and sighed, why couldn't she have both? It just wasn't fair. She looked up from gazing at the ground with a sudden start and after a moment started laughing. How appropriate; she was the "heroine" in this story saying it wasn't fair and the one in her book said the exact same thing almost constantly. But unlike the heroine the little girl had realized that life wasn't fair the day her loving father had been taken away from her. As her mirth died down from the sobering thought the girl shook her head and kept on walking.

Along her path there came an opening. Knowing the worm said the path she was on lead _straight_ to the castle and had no turns at all, yet still being very curious she poked her head through the gap. It was a maze of hedges now, and there were some pottery pieces and furniture lying about here and there among the topiaries. On a stone bench there lay a woman just staring into the yellowed sky. The little girl was taken aback by the woman's beauty. Dark brown, almost ebony hair sprawled out in abandon around her head, her jade eyes were fogged over in fantasy as she looked at the clouds, her skin was the whitest the little girl had ever seen; only having a pinch of peach in its tint to notify someone that she was indeed living, and she was clothed in an elegantly simple amethyst sundress that only went down to her knees. Her elven feet were completely bare, yet dainty and soft as if she had never walked the rough cobblestones which lay beneath her.

The girl gripped her palms tightly, feeling an instant connection to this woman she'd never met before in her life and yet feeling she would be more of a mother than the woman who'd carried her for nine months was. Unaware she'd grabbed a handful of shrubbery, the pressure caused the twigs and leaves to rustle and snap. The noise broke the woman of her musings and she sat upright, looking around to see who had caused the disturbance.

Afraid at what would happen if she got caught the little girl ducked back into the path and started running. She ran and ran, and ending up running right into something, or _someone_ as the case had been. It was the woman. But, _how_? She had only been sitting up when the little girl ran, she shouldn't have been able to catch up and get ahead of her so quickly. Then again, she was probably someone who lived here and knew all the twists and turns. Of course she could outpace and capture a little girl.

The little girl stood clenching her fists tightly; staring at the ground and feeling her whole body shake with fright. The woman seemed to notice this and gave a soft smile while bringing a slender hand under the girl's chin; gently forcing her to look up.

"It's alright child, I won't hurt you." The woman said softly.

The little girl sniffed, trying to hold back tears. "You won't?" she asked, eyes welling with the unshed liquid.

"No, there is no need for me to. I can be cruel, but you have never done me a wrong; why should I need to do you one? Now, dry those tears." The woman told her. The little girl wiped her eyes and sniffed again. The woman bent down to the child's level. "That's better. Now, what brings an innocent little girl like you here to such a dangerous place like this?"

The little girl cast her gaze down once more. "I wished my Sitter away." She replied quietly. "It was storming, an she had locked me in my room for being afraid of them. I started to see creatures, honest I did. They kept coming towards me, telling me that they were going to get me and they were going to show me why I should be afraid of the dark. An then my sitter, she started taunting me about how she'd made me one of those TV dinners even though she knows I don't like them an how since she was in charge I was staying in my room all night long. An then, I just got so scared an angry I wanted a way to escape, an make her pay. I saw my book lying on the floor, my fear and anger made me say the words. I didn't think they would work, but they did an the Goblin King came an he offered me a pretty crystal. I almost took it too but then I remembered what would happen to the sitter if I did an I couldn't let the King turn her into a goblin. Especially since my moth- my _caretaker _wouldn't like it; she'd get really mad an try to hurt me. So I'm here, trying to get her back; my sitter, that is." She refused to meet the eyes of the woman now; sure that they would be filled with hate and contempt for such a wicked little child.

Instead, the woman let a concerned look pass her features. "I'm sorry my dear, you spoke a little too fast. Calm down and tell me again why you did something like that." And it was true, the little girl, in her guilt, had rushed out with the whole thing and the woman barely understood a word of what was said.

"My sitter, she locked me in my room, an I got scared. 'Cause there was a thunderstorm outside an I really don't like thunderstorms. An, I kinda have an overactive imagination, at least; that's what my teachers tell me sometimes." Here the little girl let a look of sour disdain cross her face. "So I saw these creatures outside my windows at first, they said they were gonna get me. They said they were gonna get inside an show me why I should be afraid of the dark. An then, I saw them hiding behind my bed an my dresser an in the corners of the room. So I kept trying to get away until I ran into a wall. I started crying an I wanted the sitter to come to help me, but she put me in my room in the first place because I'd gotten scared. Then it made me mad that I was being punished for being scared. When my classmates get scared their mommies an daddies come an tell them it's alright to be scared, but not me. I knew I couldn't do anything, my moth- my caretaker would hurt me real bad if I did. I didn't know what else to do and then I remembered my story; I read it for a little while an it helped me calm down but she started teasing me again an then my book fell open to the words an I said them before I knew what I was doing. I'm really sorry I did, but I couldn't help myself." Now, no matter how much she didn't want them to, the tears fell from her eyes; heavy like the raindrops of the storm she had left some time ago.

The woman pouted. "Oh you poor thing!" she exclaimed, drawing the little girl into a hug and holding her tight. "No wonder you seem so much older, look at what's happened to you."

The girl continued sobbing; partly in sorrow, and partly in happiness. She had never had anyone hold her like this or even _care_ enough to think about talking to her. "I don't know what you mean…" the little girl said through her tears and choked sounds.

The woman pulled back slightly and studied the girl before her. She could clearly see this girl bore sorrow's mark when all she wanted was to be loved by a family. She had constantly been left alone; locked up and forgotten about for at least hours on end. She had no one but the friends who existed in her own mind, and even they seemed to hurt her. This brave little girl had grown up far too fast; and the woman wished she could do something to help. She had sent her sitter away because, as the woman had recognized, there was only so much torture a person could take before they shattered into a million pieces. And this little girl bore so much pain and grief, she was cracked from the inside out; if one more person dropped her she would be like a precious porcelain vase destroyed: never able to be the same again.

The woman felt her heart go out to the child. In her haste she had wished away someone she had nothing to do with, and the goblins had answered her call. The only good thing to come out of this tragic reality was that her imagination and belief was strong, so the goblins _had_ been able to interfere and take the teen. But that meant that Jareth had gone to her and offered the child her dreams and freedom in exchange. Any normal child would have taken it without a second thought; and they wouldn't be here now. The woman's eyes widened as she realized that this child had such a big heart that she had given up her dreams for her tormentor, was running the Labyrinth to get someone she didn't even like back. The woman was astounded by this child's selflessness; much more than she had had even at an older age and wished it hadn't taken the Labyrinth to make her see things like that.

Though this child was on the path leading right to the castle her little legs would not give her enough speed and length in their strides. It would take hours to reach the castle, especially with that new defense added in recently. The woman steeled her resolve; Jareth certainly would not like it but what else could she do? She was going to help this child reach the castle and reclaim the girl already there.

"You poor child," The woman said pulling her close once more briefly before pulling back and looking at her. "with those small legs of yours even on the straight path you won't make it in time. I'll help you." She said rising to her full height.

The little girl sniffed. "You will?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course, it's not fair for a little girl like you being tasked to solve a place as big as this. I'll take you right to the castle and protect you. For even on the straight and narrow path, there lie dangers and hardships."

The little girl felt tears well up again as she merely nodded. "Thank you miss, miss…" she trailed off as she realized she didn't know what the woman's name was.

The woman laughed. "I'm Sarah little one. And don't worry, I won't ask your name right now. For now we'll just focus on the path." Sarah offered her hand and let the little girl take it. Together they started back down the path.

The little girl practically had to race to keep up with Sarah's long strides. As she looked at the side profile of Sarah some vague, hazy semblance something superimposed itself over her in the little girl's mind. Sarah looked like someone she knew, but they had never met before, right?

"Miss Sarah? Have we met before?" the little girl asked.

Sarah stilled for a split second, but recovered quickly. "I don't believe so. Mayhaps I seem familiar because you have dreamed yourself here before? Or maybe you imagine me so?" there was no way any mortal could tell when someone from the Underground was Above. Yet this girl had managed to figure out some part of her having traveled between the worlds on a daily basis. No; it was better to keep her off balance.

The little girl cast a quizzical look at the woman before jerking her head back slightly and blinked owlishly. Well, it certainly couldn't be out of the realm of possibility; after all she had woken up on several different occasions recalling having a vivid dream yet no memory of just what had happened in said dream. One might say she had merely fallen into a dreamless sleep, but for an imaginative little girl like her a dreamless sleep was synoptic with a restless one. She shrugged, she had very quickly learned that things were not always what they seemed here; best to just wait it out and see where it led.

Sarah led the little girl down the path much faster than could have been accomplished had it been her by herself. The journey went fairly quickly, but the little girl wanted to know more about Miss Sarah; as this would be the last time they would meet.

"Miss Sarah?" the little girl asked.

"What is it?"

"Why are you here? I mean, you don't look the same as the Goblin King, or like Hoggle or mister worm. Aren't you human like me?"

"How did you know Jareth wasn't human?" Sarah asked before she could stop herself.

"There's something about him, I know he isn't a goblin; or not like the ones I've seen in picture books. But I also know he isn't human like I am. What is he?"

"He is a Fae, one of the Faerie folk to be more correct. And if you're up for a bit of a story, I can tell you how I came to be here."

"I love stories." The girl assured her. Thank goodness the path was a little longer than most expected. Sarah slowed down so as not to lose her breath.

"Well, when I was fifteen I had wished my brother away to the goblins." Sarah nodded at the little girl's gasp. "I had been spoiled and selfish back then, I only thought of myself and how unfair it was that I always had to watch him; as if to my parents my life wasn't important at all. So one summer night, I got fed up and wished that he would be taken, and Jareth and his goblins granted my wish. Jareth, sorry, the Goblin King offered me my dreams in exchange for little Toby. But I was so afraid of what my parents would say when they got home that I couldn't take it. So I was challenged to run this Labyrinth, but I never took the time to really listen to what anyone had to say in the beginning, so it took me a lot longer to reach the city.

"Once inside, I was once again challenged to reclaim by brother in this crazy room with stairs and hallways in every direction, some were even on the wall. Gravity didn't exist in that room, and when I realized that I was able to break the room's hold over me. It was then Jareth and I had our final battle. He offered me something I thought was a trap; to make me run out of time. So I unknowingly hurt him for years afterward. That summer night, I had wished away my brother, run the Labyrinth, defeated its King, celebrated my victory with all members of his kingdom, and barred him from my life.

"The years passed, and I grew out of old dreams and into new ones. However, there was one dream that I lost and felt incomplete without. It was then I encountered Jareth again; he created a dream world for the two of us to live in, our own happily ever after. But I came to my senses when I found out that this land was dying as a result of Jareth's neglect. He was so focused on creating the perfect world with me that he was letting his own die. I had made friends in this Labyrinth; I couldn't just let them die too. So we went back and fixed the Underground. It was then we separated again, with me breaking his heart by telling him I needed to follow my own path, and he let me."

"That's so sad." The little girl said. "It almost sounds like my storybook at the house."

Sarah gave the girl a wistful smile. "I'm sure it does. It was only after I decided to follow my own path that I realized how much it entwined with his. How much I loved him. However, I felt that there was no way I could go back to him, not after rejecting him twice. But at the same time any other man I involved myself with simply couldn't compare to my Goblin King. In the end, I knew what I had to do, selfish though it may have been. I made one last wish, and I've lived here ever since. Jareth and I became engaged shortly after and we now rule over a kingdom of friends and wonders. I couldn't ask for anything more."

"So… you're the Goblin King's wife?" the little girl asked.

Sarah looked down at her left hand in the child's, devoid of any indicating ring. "Not yet, but someday I hope to be. I want to start a family with him."

"He better, I think every story should have a happy ending; no matter how long it takes to get there." The little girl replied.

Sarah smiled gently. "So do I." she said. "So do I."

They had just reached the gate to the city, coming out of an opening that one could not see unless they were looking for it. There was one more barrier however, a long walled corridor with pitch black coating the insides.

"My girl," Sarah said as they approached the entrance. "I am going to carry you through this one, as this is a challenge not meant for a girl so young as yourself. Just close your eyes and cover your ears. I'll let you know when it's safe."

"'Kay." The little girl replied as she allowed herself to be lifted into Sarah's slender, yet strong arms. She did as Sarah asked; closing her eyes and sticking her fingers in her ears. The walk seemed to take ages and the little girl thought Sarah must have walked forever for a thousand miles. She wanted to ask Sarah if this was so but Sarah had told her to keep her eyes closed and her ears plugged. Not wanting to upset her the little girl kept her promise and all she was aware of right now was the constant beating of Sarah's heart from where she rested against the woman. It was so soft, so soothing and lulling. The little girl almost wanted to go to sleep. Luckily it was then Sarah set her down. The little girl looked up, and saw tears streaming down Sarah's cheeks.

"What's wrong Miss Sarah?" she asked.

Sarah wiped at her eyes only to have more tears take the place of ones gone. "It's nothing little one." She replied. "I just, remembered something beautiful and it made me cry, that's all."

The little girl patted Sarah's hand. "It's okay to cry Miss Sarah." She said. "Sometimes it's the only thing that makes you feel better. You know I always feel better after I cry."

Sarah's heart broke just a little more seeing the girl act so strong. "Even the strong cry sometimes little one." She soothed. "Never let anyone make you feel bad if you cry, it is the one of the few things that keep us from being the stones under our feet."

The little girl's eyes grew watery as a smile spread across her face. "Okay, I'll remember."

They were now inside the city, and the little girl saw grotesque goblin faces all smiling at her without a care in the world. She still felt safer having Sarah's hand in her own. They were at the castle faster than the little girl could have hoped for. Sarah led the way inside the castle and to the King's throne room. The little girl wanted Sarah to come in with her.

"Why little one?"

"I'd feel better knowing you were there if I need you."

Sarah smiled the words reminiscent of one of her best friends from long ago. "Alright." She agreed, ushering the little girl forth.

He was there, lounging on his throne over mindless subjects fooling around with chickens.

"So, solved the Labyrinth already?" he asked in a bored manner.

"I did, I'd like my Sitter back now." The little girl said bravely, sounding more courageous than she actually felt at the moment. "Please," She added.

"You may have reached the castle, but I've one more challenge for you." Said the King; rising from his post and striding toward her. "And this one, you must solve _alone_." With a snap of his leather-clad fingers Sarah was gone, and so was the throne room. Instead they were in a room full of stairs going every-which-way imaginable.

"This is impossible." The girl said before she could stop herself.

"If you believe it to be so." The Goblin King replied. "Your challenge is this; find the crystal before time runs out. If you can do that then you and the wished-away may both return home."

So this was it, the final battle; waiting to be fought. But she didn't _want_ to fight the Goblin King; she wanted to stay in his kingdom, forever if possible. As the girl watched the King throw the crystal only to have it bounce up and down stairs something occurred to her. Maybe this didn't have to _be_ a battle. Maybe, just maybe, she could end this story without the hero and villain at odds. She could get her happy ending.

"Wait," she said, turning to the King and looking him straight in the eyes. "I have a better idea."

Intrigued by this girl since he had watched her start her challenge Jareth decided to humor her. "What kind of idea?" he asked.

"A good one, I hope." The little girl replied. "All my life I've believed in you. I wanted to come down an see the kingdom, an the goblins, an meet the ones who make this place so special. An now that I have I don't want to go back. Well, not forever. I really like it down here. I-I don't wanna go back to that place. I don't wanna hurt anymore. Can I, can I take my sitter's place?" she asked.

Jareth was so shocked, so flabbergasted he physically had to take a step back. Taking someone's place!? He had never done it before. He had to make this girl see reason; that it was either defeat him or lose the sitter. There was no medium that could be reached.

"You do realize if you were to take her place you would be separated from the world Above forever, right? You would become a part of the Underground; timeless for all eternity." Maybe he could intimidate her with big words, make her see the dangers of her thoughts.

"No, but does it really matter so much? If it does mean that much to you that I grow up before I make my decision maybe I don't have to stay right _now_. I still have so much to learn from up Above, things I don't think I could ever learn here, no offense." She said.

"So then what do you propose we do?"

"How about this; I'll take my sitter's place in the Underground the day my birthmother dies. That way, I'll have absolutely no ties to keep me there an whether I want to or not I will stay." She reasoned for him.

He had to hand it to her; this girl had grown up enough in her petty little five years that she could see things he had never even thought possible. "You are making a deal with the devil little girl." he warned her. "A deal that I will hold you to. Are you prepared to bear the burden of eternity?" he asked, holding out his hand.

The little girl looked at it a moment before looking him straight in the eyes. "I will be when the time comes, but for now I think I'll enjoy being a normal kid for the first time in my life." She said taking his hand without breaking eye-contact.

He felt a flare of his magic shoot up his arm and into the girl. There, it was done; the deal had been struck, and he _would_ hold her to it when the time came. "Very well child. I will send you and the girl home." He told her conjuring one last crystal.

"My home isn't there." The girl said, giving him a sad look as he dropped it. "It's _here_." Those were the words she had left him, and all the Underground with. Her home was with them, though she barely knew them. Sighing as he returned to his throne Jareth sent a few goblins to keep an eye on her over the years.

"You've done well my King." Sarah said coming to stand next to him as he sprawled out on his chair.

"One of the few things I've done well Sarah." He replied. "It will not be long until she is with us…"

"Yet every moment will feel like forever." Sarah finished, already feeling the emptiness created by the girl's absence.

"Well, if it's only forever then it's quite alright Precious, that's not long at all." Jareth said, reaching out a hand to brush away the tears which had started falling down Sarah's cheeks.

"I miss her already." Sarah sobbed into his hand.

"We can always go and visit if you like." Jareth said conjuring a crystal with the girl's image held inside.

"Oh, Jareth! Could we?" Sarah said leaping into his arms.

"Of course. Nothing is impossible."

* * *

And so it came to pass, the little girl went back Above; she lived her mortal life, always protected from danger by the goblins. During the day she was the sweet little girl people had always known her as; good at hiding her hurt from other with a cheerful mask. But at night, when the sitter would lock her in her room for the evening the little girl would set up her bed to look as though she was sleeping before going to the full-length mirror over by her closet and knocking on the glass three times. Upon the third knock, Hoggle would show up and hold out his hand. The little girl would take it, and the dwarf would pull her through to the Underground. They would end up in the castle and Sarah would show them all the wonders of the kingdom.

The little girl had been introduced to both Ludo and sir Didymus, who delighted her to no end. Ludo would call rocks and create structures for the little girl to play on. Didymus and Ambrosius would play the knight whilst the little girl would either play the damsel in distress or the fire-breathing dragon. By the time night fell in the kingdom Sarah would take the little girl back to the castle and feed her a much better dinner than anyone could get Above. And then they'd spend the remainder of the evening in the library, Sarah reading fairytales thought lost to time while she and the little girl sat by a fire or open window, depending on the season.

The few times the Goblin King could get away from making sure his goblins didn't kill themselves he'd take charge of the little girl and they would pass the time with him showing her how to juggle crystals, taking her flying above the kingdom as a little fledgling owl, or he would gather the whole of the throne room in song and dance around with her; throwing her in the air and tossing her about to his subjects who -despite their slow and stupid behavior- always caught her with grace and ease.

The little girl loved spending time with Sarah and Jareth. She had even started calling them 'mommy' and 'daddy' for they had acted as the parents she had always deserved. Around the little girl and Sarah the Goblin King became a new person, still a devious trickster but loving and warm. A man instead of a monarch. When the clock struck the thirteenth hour every night the little girl would be asleep, lulled by one of the Underground's lullabies, and Sarah would go through the mirror portal and deposit the child in her bed, placing a kiss upon the little forehead before leaving once more.

Everyone delighted in the little girl, who often, just for amusement on weekends when the sitter had plans and the mother of the child left her all alone in the apartment, would just wander throughout the Labyrinth. Talking with the things that could talk back, climbing on the things that could be climbed, sliding down things that could be slid on; she was just a little kid down here and no one thought bad of her because of it.

Around a year after she had made the deal with the man she considered her father the little girl was wandering the great maze, as usual, when she came upon the Hedge garden. She liked to come here often since the Wise man and his hat always had something funny to tell her. It often made any bad day she had turn on it's head almost instantly. However, today there was no wise-man and his wisecracking hat. She was all alone here. The little girl didn't mind, whenever she was here in the Underground she could be alone without ever feeling lonely; if she ever needed her friends they would always be just a thought away. This time around the little girl wanted to be by herself, she liked to think about things; most often the so-called 'advice' the wise-man gave her. Whenever he said something to her it seemed as though it was just nonsense at first, but it would only be later, in another situation, that it would make sense. Today she was pondering over something he'd told her just yesterday.

"hello dear." The little girl heard a voice from behind her.

Turning, the little girl gave out a gasp at seeing someone else besides her here in the hedges. "I'm sorry," she apologized to the woman. "you startled me."

The woman gave her a warm smile. "I have been known to do that in my time."

"What are you doing here?" the little girl asked.

"I thought that would have been obvious; I'm here to see you." the woman replied.

The little girl tilted her head to the side, confused by the statement. "Who are you?" she asked.

The woman just kept smiling. "Now that's a good question. Who do _you_ think I am?" she asked in response.

"Um..." the little girl didn't know how to answer that question. "I don't know. What's your name?"

"I don't believe I have one. I have an idea; why don't you give me a name. I bet you'll come up with something that fits. Go ahead." The woman encouraged.

The little girl looked at the woman for a few moments, trying to think of a name that fit. It had to be something special, because the little girl could tell the woman herself was special. She took in the woman's appearance. Silvery white hair, icy blue eyes, high swept brows, elven facial features, those same odd markings her father had, and a medieval period dress periwinkle in color. The little girl said the first thing that came to mind. "Magi."

The woman raised a brow. "Come again?" she asked.

"I said Magi." The little girl repeated. "That's what I'm calling you; Magi."

The woman's smile widened. "And why Magi?"

"Because you're magic."

"I do have abilities but-"

"No, that's not what I meant. I mean that you _are_ magic. You're not human like me or mommy. You're not a goblin or a dwarf or a rock-caller. You're not Fae, like daddy. You're just magic, itself."

Magi chuckled. "How did you know?"

"I could feel it." The little girl replied.

Magi stood and walked to her. "I was right, you are perceptive. Kind-hearted, selfless, and intuitive. I knew I would be right in choosing you."

"Choosing me?" the little girl repeated. "For what?"

"I want you to become a part of me. A part of the Labyrinth itself." Magi replied sitting down on a stone bench and gesturing for the little girl to do likewise.

"What?"

"It's simple, I am magic; like you said. I am the manifestation of the Labyrinth. To make it simple I am the Labyrinth. Make sense so far?" the little girl nodded. "Good. Now, you my dear girl, are a human. You live the life expectancy of a human and though your magic has been fed by the Underground there is really nothing else that sets you apart from other humans. I want you to become a part of the Labyrinth itself, to become the body which carries the soul of the Labyrinth inside of it."

"Why?" the little girl asked from her seat next to Magi.

"Because, in your world, the one from which you came and were born into, the magic is dying. If it continues to do so eventually all ties with this world and that one will be severed permanently. You will never be able to go back Above. The problem with this is that the magic down here is too unstable by itself. It needs to expend magic into worlds with less of it or the Underground will collapse in on itself."

"So... The Underground needs to give some of its magic away to my world or else it could die?" the little girl clarified.

"Yes." Magi answered. "Without your world, this world cannot survive. I need to feed some of the magic from this world into yours or else this world as we now it will cease to exist."

"I see, but why can't you go Above and do it on your own?" the little girl asked.

"I can't." Magi replied. "I love this world and I don't want anything to happen to it, but unless I find someone who can travel between worlds the Underground will die."

"You can't leave the Underground?" the little girl gasped.

"I can't." Magi affirmed. "I'm trapped here; in this world, no matter how wonderful it is."

The wise-man's words of yesterday came back to the little girl. "'It will never truly matter what you do to it. No matter how you guild a cage, a cage it shall always remain'."

Magi nodded. "Truer words have never been spoken. Will you help me?"

The little girl looked at her. "I will," she said, grasping Magi's hand. "But why didn't you ask mommy for help?"

"Your mother has done enough. In all my years I have never seen Jareth so happy. And with you around his happiness will continue to grow." As she spoke Magi began to morph until she looked like an older, Fae version of the little girl. Turning transparent, she continued to speak. "You will accomplish great things for your home; both here and Above." And with that, Magi vanished. The little girl sat for a few more moments, before getting up and starting the trek to the castle.

* * *

It was later the little girl learned, Magi had been right.

One day -when she was about seven years old- she had been playing on the rock bridge in the Bog of Eternal Stench, -not really caring about the smell as like most little kids she was prone to ignore it- laughing at the sounds the rocks made as she stepped on them when something caught her eye. There was something there in the water. Something shiny, something red; it called to her.

"Ludo!" the girl cried out. The rock caller appeared. "Ludo, there's something in the water over there, can you call up the rocks to see what it is?"

"Fish?" Ludo offered his own explanation.

She laughed. "I don't think any fish live in the Bog Ludo. Besides, if they do they would be moving all over the place an probably blend in with the water. This is red and shiny, easy prey. No, I think it's something else. Will you please call up the rocks?"

Ludo nodded and belted out a call that sounded like a mix between a growl and a gurgle. The rocks surrounding the object in the water rose in like a platform, the object lying in the center. It was a shiny red stone.

"Wow!" the girl said, awestruck. "I've never seen anything like that here before! Mommy an Daddy would love it! Ludo, can you give me a boost?" the creature nodded and held out a giant paw. The little girl stepped on it and managed to keep her balance as Ludo lifted the paw above his head so the little girl could grab onto the branches and vines hanging down.

Once she had a hold Ludo watched as the little girl swung her way to the platform before dropping down onto it. One of the few things the little girl had like about recess was the monkey bars, with all the climbing she did in the Underground it was best to keep her upper body strength in shape. Once she got her footing the little girl knelt down and picked up the stone. She felt it pulse in her hand, keeping a steady rhythm of pulses. It reminded her of a heartbeat. Pocketing the pulsing stone she looked over at where Ludo stood on the bridge. It was too far to jump, and the vines were too high overhead to reach. A thought struck her as she whistled out into the forest.

"Hey Chillydowns!" she called.

A beat started playing, accompanied by the voices of many creatures, all putting in a different part of the song. Suddenly they appeared all around her, hanging from the branches overhead.

"What's cookin' little lady?" one asked, several other snickered. Little lady was their nickname for her, where they came up with it, she did not know.

"Little bit stuck, I could use a hand here." The little girl replied.

"You mean like this?" another asked, ripping the arm off a nearby firey and throwing it at her. The others hooted with laughter at that.

The little girl picked up the arm and stretched, still too short. "Looks like I'm gonna need more than one."

"No problem!" they chorused, getting together until they formed a chain link of arms and legs while the strongest held on to the overhead vines. Four arms wrapped around her waist and she was swung over to Ludo. When he caught her the other arms let go and returned to being the Chillydown gang.

"Thanks!" the little girl said with relief, as there was no way to get rid of the stench once someone had gotten water from the Bog on them. "I'll be sure to show you a new game tomorrow!"

The fireys hooted with excitement before swinging off. The little girl turned back to Ludo.

"Alright Ludo, I'm gonna head home to show Mom an Dad what I found. Thanks for your help."

"Bye-bye!" Ludo called after her.

When she got home the little girl rushed to find Sarah. "Mama! Mama! Look what I found today!"

Sarah turned around only to have the girl who was her daughter in all but pregnancy crash into her. "What is it honey?" she asked.

"I was out playing on the bridge today when I found something in the water!" the little girl replied excitedly.

"What did you find?"

"I found this!" and the little girl held up her treasure for her mother to see.

"What a pretty stone you've found." Sarah replied.

"Uh-huh! An it pulses too!"

"Pulses? What do you mean it pulses?"

"It does a heartbeat pattern mama, look!" and the little girl put the stone in Sarah's hand. The child was right; it did pulse like a heartbeat. A story Jareth had told her came to the forefront of Sarah's mind.

"Oh sweetheart, let's show your father. I think he'll be very happy with what you've found." Taking the child's hand, Sarah led her to the throne room where her husband was lounging about.

"Jareth?" Sarah called.

"What is it Precious?"

"Look at what your daughter found while playing in the Bog today." She held out the stone for Jareth to take.

Once in hand, the Goblin King took a good long look before recognition passed over his face. "I dumped this into the Bog years ago." He said to himself. Looking at his adopted daughter he asked. "How in the Underground did you find it?"

"It just caught my eye while I was playing on the bridge." The little girl answered truthfully.

"Does that mean it's…" Sarah trailed off.

"Indeed, she truly is part of the special few. To have found a piece of my heart…" Jareth left the sentence hanging for a moment before scooping the little girl up in his arms. He placed a kiss on the crown of her head. "Thank you for this lovely gift my darling daughter."

"You're welcome daddy!" the little girl replied.

* * *

When the little girl was eight she had started to pull away from her surrogate parents. For the life of them Sarah and Jareth couldn't fathom why. Their little princess had always loved them unconditionally, had always come to them whenever she had a problem. But as of late she seemed to avoid them whenever she could. She would go back Above far before she ever had previously. She seemed to spend more time with the other inhabitants than she had before. Dinners were a mostly silent affair. And every time one or both of them tried to get her to open up the little girl would just shake her head and say "It's nothing."

It obviously wasn't nothing if she was acting so different. While despite how much he didn't want to Jareth couldn't take enough time away from his subjects to really find out what was going on with her. So he had asked Sarah to find out for him and if necessary he would deal with it posthaste. But the trouble was finding their daughter. Something had happened two years ago, something big, because now whenever the little girl didn't want to be found she could somehow hide her presence from anyone, even from Jareth's crystals. Their daughter often said something about a friend named Magi, who taught her how to do magic. They wanted to find this Magi and teach them a way to keep their daughter from hiding from them. Sarah just wished she knew what was going on, what was happening to her little girl and what she could do to fix it.

It was no use, if her daughter did not want to be found Sarah knew she would not find the girl. But rather than mope around the castle worrying herself to death, Sarah decided to indulge herself in one of her daughter's favorite pastimes. She went out into the Labyrinth to wander. And as she walked Sarah wondered what it could be that was bothering her beloved little girl so. It couldn't be school; whenever asked about it she would tell of all the fun things happening there. It couldn't be that woman and teenaged girl that had brought her to them in the first place; Jareth had made sure they would never hurt their little girl again.

Eventually her thoughts wandered on to other things, like how long it had been since she had last seen her little half-brother Toby. He had been but six years old since she had left for the Underground permanently, he must have been nearly grown by now. Her family had been encouraged to think she had settled down in Europe with her husband, whose job often kept them traveling, but it had been a pretty long while since she had actually seen them. According to her husband, (they had married shortly after their little girl had come back the first time) who often looked in on them for her, they were all alright and in good health, but Sarah couldn't help but want to see them.

Sarah suddenly stopped when she heard a twig crunch beneath her feet. She had been so caught up in her thoughts she hadn't even realized she had walked past the Junkyard and into the forest. Her daughter had often called the forests here the Pixie's Hollows. She had come up with many names for different parts of the Labyrinth, from books she had read or simply from her own imagination. After she named something others couldn't quite seem to call it whatever it had been named before, if it had even had a name. There was a garden within the castle walls they called Eden, the tunnels running under the Labyrinth were the Catacombs, and the outer walls were No man's land. Sarah's daughter, though not of the same blood, had certainly inherited her mother's imagination.

As she strode further and further into the woods Sarah became aware of the soft, muted sounds of sobbing. Following as best she could Sarah came upon a fruit tree that had grown out of the peach she had eaten during her trek through the Labyrinth. After hearing the story behind it her daughter had aptly named it the Tree of Eve, bearing the forbidden fruit. And there, nestled within the boughs of the sky reaching giant, was her little girl. Sitting in the crook of where branch met trunk, knees drawn up, face buried in her lap, and arms cushioning the weight. She was sobbing, something really was wrong.

"Sweetheart?" Sarah called, hesitantly approaching the tree. "Is everything alright?"

With her face still buried in her lap all Sarah caught was a muffled version of "It's nothing. I'm fine." She was reminded of how she often did the same thing when she was younger; feeling upset about something but not wanting to talk about it.

"Darling if everything was alright you wouldn't be here crying. Now please tell me what's wrong, your father and I are worried sick about you." Sarah hoisted herself up into the tree and onto the branch to level herself with the girl.

Her little girl looked up at her. Large brown eyes red from tears she had cried and glassy from the ones she had not. She made no move to get out of her fetal position, it was a measure of comfort for her right now. "You are?" she sniffed.

"Of course we are. We're your parents, it's our job to worry about you." Sarah replied.

Whatever she had said seemed to set the little girl off again because more tears leaked down her face. "But that's just it," she said shakily. "you're not my real parents."

"Darling what's wrong? You've been so different lately. What's been bothering you?"

"I-" She choked up. "I saw it." came the quiet reply.

"Saw what?" Sarah didn't understand.

"I was exploring the castle one rainy day and I saw it. The nursery. And then I wondered why you didn't have a baby of your own. And I thought... I thought..." She trailed off.

"You thought what?" Sarah pressed.

"I thought, that you and daddy had always wanted a baby of your own and I was selfishly keeping you guys to myself. An when I thought that, I thought you guys didn't love me anymore." With that last sentence she burst into tears once more,drawing into herself for comfort.

And it was then Sarah realized that she had been right the day she first met the girl who would become her daughter. She was so fragile, the loss of her birth father on top of a mother who didn't even like her child along with that torturous sitter she had wished away. She wasn't allowed to be herself, had been made to think that everything wrong in the world was her fault. Had been disciplined to the point where one micrometer out of line had her locked up like a prisoner and forgotten about. In a way that girl had been living in an Oubliette her entire life. Her cracks and scars ran deep, and it would take more strength to heal them than anyone would ever guess. And that was because she made it seem like all was well with her, even when it wasn't.

The nursery in question, was one used for babies that had been wished away by jealous older siblings. It was where her brother had been put to sleep when not with her then enemy the Goblin King. Had Sarah wanted kids of her own? Yes, she knew the reason she hadn't had any herself, and it had nothing to do with the little girl crying right now.

"Sweetheart, you should have told us the minute that thought popped into your head. You shouldn't have kept it to yourself like that. Oh, if I had known in the beginning I- I would have told you. Darling, your father and I love you very much; we love you because you're you, not because your our child by blood. That nursery you found is where we put wished away babies to sleep while their siblings run the Labyrinth to try and get them back. Have I wanted a child of my own, yes I have, every little girl's dream is to meet Prince Charming and have a family with him. But sweetheart, I have that now with you and your father. It doesn't matter to me or him that you came from someone else, we love you just the same as we would had you come from us. I don't want you to think something like that ever again. You hear me?"

The little girl sniffed again. "I hear you mama." she said, the words a little strangled thanks to a knot left in her throat from crying.

"Promise me now, promise me you'll never let such a silly though make you cry again. And if you do, you come right to me and you father so we can tell you how much we love you."

She scrubbed her tears away with the back of her hand and laughed a little. "I promise mama."

Sarah smiled. "Good, now let's go home to your daddy. Alright?"

Fully smiling now the little girl nodded. "Okay." she leapt into her mother's arms once Sarah was safely on the ground, and the two began walking home.

"Hey mama?"

"Yes dear?"

"I thought you said the stork brought me to my old parents."

"Oh! um, I did. Didn't I?"

"Yeah, but Magi says that's not where babies come from. Is she right?"

"Well, that's a long story dear..."

"Will you tell it to me?"

"Maybe when you're older."

* * *

Ah, such wonderful memories.

The older the little girl got, the more she started to see why the land she called home was where people who were not wanted and wished away were sent. There was something about the Underground that soothed those who entered. A chance for a new beginning; a happy one. Whenever she was picked on by other kids she would run to her special hiding place -ironically enough every school she attended Above had one- and she would curl up into a ball, her mind calling out for her father.

'_Daddy! Daddy! Get me out of here!'_

Out of nowhere a crystal would roll to her and when she picked it up she could see her friends and family all smiling at her and waving, an indication that they couldn't wait for her to get home. She would smile then, blow them all a kiss, and then throw the crystal back into the oblivion it came from. It was always after those times she realized what the Underground held; no matter what was done, nothing from her past life ever hurt her again down there. She was no longer Above, she was Underground, completely.

In school she grew a reputation of never paying attention in class and simply staring out the window all day long. They thought she was weird, but in truth she was always watching her protectors play outside in the grass. Their antics made her laugh, and more than once she got in trouble with the teacher for not paying attention and laughing at nothing, especially since all too often she would do this while a very serious and sober subject was being discussed.

She changed too over the years; once her freedom from her biological mother had been accomplished, she cut her hair short, refusing to be that completely doll-like girly-girl she'd had to be when the woman was alive.

"Are you sure about this?" Sarah has asked, holding the scissors in hand.

"I'm sure. That woman might have been the one that birthed me, but you are my real mother. I want nothing to remind me of her."

She had never felt freer or happier in her life. Of course, since there was the legality matter of things Sarah had taken the liberty of masquerading as a teacher the girl had once had and offered to house the girl until she was of age.

One rainy day in April, nearly ten years after the deal had been struck and fulfilled; the once little girl was now a freshman in high school. And she was approached by two girls who'd believed they'd managed to befriend her. She was an oddball to be sure, in the girls' minds, but she told the most amazing stories with such detail; if you closed your eyes you could almost believe you were there. The girl shared the same sentiments, but she never let that on to the other two. After all, these boring _normal_ teenage girls were the ones who educated her in acting like one of them, so as not to be suspected by skeptics. She had once been told that only those who truly believed would have the power to open a portal to the Underground. However, it would not keep anyone who saw the portal being opened from following. Knowing she wasn't as pretty as she could be had she half a mind to put the effort in, the girl often shrugged off remarks from her so-called 'friends' about her living under a rock.

'_Not under a rock, but definitely under something.'_ She'd always think.

"Hey Mai," one of the girls, Michiru, said. "You're meeting with us in the AV room after school today right?"

"Yeah," added the other, Keiko. "You said you'd tell us some really good ghost stories this time."

Mai, the little girl-child no longer, turned from her view of the window and her invisible friends to the visible ones and smiled. "Sure," she replied. "I'll tell you one of the scariest ones I know…"

* * *

So that's that. Did anyone catch the David Bowie reference here?

Alright guys, I'm pretty sure I've said this already but whatever: 25 NICE reviews total for this story and I'll post a poll to see what one you want me to update next. And one more thing; as awesome as it is that I get all these alerts of story favs and follows I get a little mad because I spend hours of my free time on end writing these stories and it would be nice for you to take a few minutes of your time to review them. That being said, please do so


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